LOWLY. 


A    HISTORY 


OF    THE 


ANCIENT  WORKING   PEOPLE 


FKOM 


THE  EARLIEST  KNOWN    PERIOD  TO  THE 

ADOPTION    OF    CHRISTIANITY 

BY    CONST ANTINE. 


?   la)J.kv    TOO    »9eoy    robrou    tfiaffaJrat. SOCRATES. 


BY   C.   OSBORNE   WARD, 

TBANSLATOB  AND  LIBBABIAN,  U.  8.     DEP'T.     OF  LABOB. 


PRBSS  OF  THE  CRAFTSMAN. 


WASHINGTON,  D.O. 
1889. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  In  the  Y«ar  1888,  by 

C.     OSBORNB    WARD, 
In  the  Office  ol  iU«  Librarian  of  Coiigiugg,  at 


DEDICATED 

TO       T HB       M£MOBT      Of 

COURTLA.NDT       FALMER. 


2066771 


PEBFACB. 


The  author  of  this  volume  is  aware  that  a  strong 
opposition  may  set  in  and  perhaps  for  a  time,  ob- 
ject to  the  thoughts  and  the  facts  which  it  portrays. 

Much  of  its  contents  is  new.  The  ideas  that  lay 
at  the  bottom  of  the  ancient  competitive  system, 
though  in  their  day  thoroughly  understood,  have  been 
go  systematically  attacked  and  gnawed  away  during 
our  nearly  2,000  years'  trial  of  the  new  institution, 
that  men  now,  no  longer  comprehend  them.  The 
whole  may  strike  the  reader  as  news.  Much  of  it 
indeed,  reads  like  a  revelation  from  a  sealed  book; 
and  we  may  not  at  first  be  able  to  comprehend  it  a& 
a  natural  effect  of  a  cause. 

The  introduction  of  Christianity  was  fought,  and 
for  a  long  time  resisted  by  the  laboring  element  it- 
self; solely  on  the  ground  that  it  seriously  interfered 
with  idol,  amulet,  palladium  and  temple  drapery 
manufacture.  As  shown  in  the  chapter  on  "Image- 
makers,"  there  were  organized  trades,  whose  labor 
and  means  of  obtaining  a  living  were  entirely  confined 
to  their  skill  in  producing  for  the  pagan  priesthood 


riii  PREFACE. 

these  innumerable  images  and  paraphernalia  of  wor- 
ship. Indeed,  the  ultimate  introduction  of  certain 
unmistakable  forms  of  idol  worship  to  be  found  lin- 
gering in  the  so-called  Christianity  to-day,  must  be 
considered  as  having  been  partly  motived  by  the  re- 
sistance of  trades  unions  against  any  change  which 
would  result  in  depriving  themselves  and  their  babes 
of  bread.  This  has  been  a  potent  hindrance  to  the 
ever  growing  but  imperceptible  realization  of  the 
social  revolution. 

The  great  strikes  and  uprisings  of  the  working 
people  of  the  ancient  world  are  almost  unknown  to 
the  living  age.  It  matters  little  how  accounts  of  five 
immense  strike-wars,  involving  destruction  of  iprop- 
erty  and  mutual  slaughter  of  millions  of  people  have 
been  suppressed,  or  have  otherwise  failed  to  reach 
us ; — the  fact  remains  that  people  are  absolutely  ig- 
norant of  those  great  events.  A  meagre  sketch  of 
Spartacus  may  be  seen  in  the  encyclopedias,  but  it  is 
always  ruined  and  its  interest  pinched  and  blighted 
by  being  classed  with  crime,  its  heroes  with  crimi- 
nals, its  theme  with  desecration.  Yet  Spartacus  was 
one  of  the  great  generals  of  history ;  fully  equal  to 
Hannibal  and  Napoleon,  while  his. cause  was  much 
more  just  and  infinitely  nobler,  his  life  a  model  oi 
the  beautiful  and  virtuous,  his  death  an  episode  oi 
surpassing  grandeur. 

Still  more  strange  is  it,  that  the  great  ten-years' 
war  of  Eunus  should  be  unknown.  He  martialed  at 
one  time,  an  army  of  two  hundred  thousand  soldiers. 
He  manoeuvred  them  and  fought  for  ten  full  years  for 
liberty,  defeating  army  after  army  of  Rome.  Why  is 
the  world  ignorant  of  this  fierce,  epochal  rebellion  ? 


PREFACE.  is, 

Almost  the  whole  matter  is  passed  over  in  silence  by 
our  histories  of  Rome.  In  these  pages  it  will  be  read 
as  news ;  yet  should  a  similar  war  rage  in  our  day, 
against  a  similar  condition  of  slavery,  its  canse  would 
not  only  be  considered  just,  but  the  combatants  would 
have  the  sympathy  and  moral  support  of  the  civilized 
world.  The  story  of  this  wonderful  workman  is  news. 

The  great  system  of  labor  organization  explained  in 
these  pages  must  likewise  be  regarded  as  a  chapter  of 
news.  The  portentous  fact  has  lain  in  abeyance  cen- 
tury after  century,  with  the  human  family  in  profound 
ignorance  of  an  organization  of  trades  and  other  labor 
unions  so  powerful  that  for  hundreds  of  years  they  un- 
dertook and  successfully  conducted  the  business  of 
manufacture,  of  distribution,  of  purveying  provisions  to 
armies,  of  feeding  the  inhabitants  of  the  largest  cities 
in  the  world,  of  inventing,  supplying  and  working  the 
huge  engines  of  war,  and  of  collecting  customs  and 
taxes — tasks  confided  to  their  care  by  the  state. 

Our  civilization  has  a  blushingly  poor  excuse  for  its 
profound  ignorance  of  these  facts ;  for  the  evidences 
have  existed  from  much  before  the  beginning  of  our 
era — indeed  the  fragments  of  the  ravaged  history  were 
far  less  broken  and  the  recorded  annals  much  fresher, 
more  numerous  and  less  mutilated  than  the  relics 
which  the  author  with  arduous  labor  and  pains-taking, 
has  had  at  command  in  bringing  them  to  the  surface. 
Besides  the  records  that,  have  corne  to  us  thus  broken 
and  distorted  by  the  wreckers  who  feared  the  moral 
blaze  of  literature,  there  were,  in  all  probability,  thou- 
sands of  inscriptions  then,  where  but  dozens  remain 
now  to  be  consulted ;  and  they  are  growing  fewer  and 
•dimmer  as  their  value  rises  higher  in  the  estimation 


x  PREFACE. 

of  a  thinking,  appreciative,  gradually  awakening  world. 

The  author  is  keenly  aware  that  certain  critics  will 
complain  of  his  dragging  religion  so  prominently  for- 
ward that  the  work  is  spoiled.  The  defense  is,  that 
though  our  charming  histories  from  a  point  of  view 
of  brilliant  events,  such  as  daring  deeds  of  heroes,  bat- 
tles and  bloodshed,  may  be  found  among  the  ancients 
without  encountering  much  of  a  religious  nature,  yet 
such  is  not  the  case  in  the  lesser  affairs  of  ancient  so- 
cial and  political  life.  The  state,  city  and  family  were 
themselves  a  part  of  the  ancient  religion  and  were  a 
part  of  its  property.  Priests  were  public  officers. 
Home  life  of  the  nobles  wag  in  constant  conformity 
with  the  ritual.  The  organizations  of  labor  were  so 
closely  watched  by  the  jealous  law  that  they  were 
obliged  to  assume  a  religious  attitude  they  did  not  feel 
in  order  to  escape  being  suppressed.  A  long  list  of 
what  we  in  our  time  consider  honorable,  business-like 
doings,  was  rated  as  blasphemy  against  the  gods  and 
punished  with  death. 

Nearly  all  of  the  idolatry,  with  its  attendant  super- 
stition and  nympholepsy,  its  giants  and  prodigies,  its 
notions  of  elysium  and  tartarus^  its  quaking  genuflex- 
ions, its  bloody  sacrifices  and  its  gladiatorial  wakes, 
had  their  real  origin  in  the  torture  of  the  menials  who 
delved,  and  in  the  rewards  of  the  favored  ones  who 
banqueted  on  the  riches  which  flowed  from  unpaid  la- 
bor; and  nearly  all  the  iconoclasm  of  the  later  soph- 
ists may  perhaps  be  traced  to  an  organized  resistance 
of  the  working  people  of  pre-christian  days.  These 
seemingly  curious,  if  not  extraordinary  truths  will,  we 
are  confident,  be  made  clear  to  the  intelligent,  careful 
reader  of  these  pages ;  and  in  this  humble  hope,  the 


PREFACE.  ri 

author  has  set  them  forth  as  an  indispensable  begin- 
ning to  those  who  would  logically  and  correctly  under- 
stand the  great  problem  of  labor  as  it  is  to-day. 

As  rightly  mentioned  by  Bancroft  and  others  enga- 
ged in  the  collection  and  study  of  monumental  archfe- 
ology,  there  is  often  a  readiness  among  the  degenerate 
natives  to  ingeniously  imitate  and  palm  off  for  genu- 
ine, numbers  of  fraudulent  counterfeit  relics  upon  the 
unsuspecting  and  credulous  wonder-hunters.  This, 
however,  is  with  us,  in  our  scope  of  research,  placed 
beyond  suspicion.  Most  of  the  slabs  we  mention  have 
already  been  lying  unobserved,  on  their  original  sitea 
or  in  by-nooks  of  the  museums  of  their  own  countries, 
for  hundreds  of  years  ;  but  they  have  long  since  been 
recorded,  catalogued  and  even  numbered  in  dingy  old 
books  and  manuscripts,  the  importance  of  their  grim 
inscriptions  having  been  little  understood  by  the  learn- 
ed epigraphists  themselves.  Besides,  no  interest  hav- 
ing ever  been  elicited  on  subjects  of  which  they  are  so 
suggestive,  there  has  been  no  lively  demand  for  them, 
even  as  curiosities.  They  are  genuine. 

The  author  may  sum  up  these  prefatory  remarks  with 
a  word  on  the  general  lesson  taught  by  this  volume;  it 
being  one  of  the  first  histories  yet  compiled  and  written 
exclusively  from  a  standpoint  of  social  science, \  That 
the  "still  small  voice"  meant  the  ever  suppressed  yet  ever 
living,  struggling,  co-operating  and  mutually  support- 
ing majorities,  is  made  self-suggestive  without  forsaking 
history.  The  phenomenal  fact  is  moreover  brought  out, 
that  the  present  movement  whose  most  radical  wing 
loudly  disclaims  Christianity,  is  nevertheless  building 
exactly  upon  the  precepts  of  that  faith,  as  it  was  told  to 
us  and  taught  us  by  Jesus  Christ;  whatever  may  or  may 


*ii  PREFACE. 

not  have  been  borrowed  by  His  school  from  the  immense 
social  organization  of  His  own  and  preceding  ages. 

Modern  greed  with  its  class  hatreds,  individualisraa, 
aristocracy,  its  struggle  for  personal  wealth,  dangerous, 
defiant  in  our  faith  and  in  our  political  economy,  is  not 
Christianity  at  all ;  it  is  the  ancient  evil  still  lingering 
in  the  roots  of  the  gradually  decaying  paganism  that  ap- 
pears to  remain  for  the  labor  movement  to  smother  and 
at  last  uproot  and  completely  annihilate. 

One  thing  must  be  solemnly  set  forth  as  a  very  sug- 
gestive hint  to  modern  anarchists,  however  honest  their 
impulses.  The  historical  facts  are  that  the  great  strikes, 
rebellions  and  social  wars — if  we  are  permitted  to  except 
those  of  Drimakos  and  the  strike  of  the  20,000  from  the 
the  silver  mines  of  I  aurium  in  Attica — all  turned  out 
disastrously  for  the  general  cause.  The  punishments 
meted  out  to  the  strikers  and  insurgents  of  the  working 
class  after  their  overthrow  by  the  Romans,  as  in  the 
rebellions  of  Eunus,  of  Athenion,  of  Spartacus,  of  every 
one  we  have  treated  in  this  book,  with  but  the  above  ex- 
ceptions, was  bloody,  revengeful  and  exterminatory  to  the 
last  degree.  An  ancient  author  whom  we  quote,  gives 
the  aggregate  number  crucified  at  something  more  than 
.a  million.  Crassus  and  Pompey  alone  crucified  over  6,000 
workingmen  on  the  Appian  Way  as  examples  of  the  aw- 
ful blood- wreaking  to  be  expected  from  Roman  military 
justice.  Twenty  thousand  were  similarly  massacred  at  En- 
na  and  Tauromanion.  These  unscrupulous  deeds  of  re- 
tribution that  went  far  toward  annihilating  the  ancient 
civilization  by  stimulating  a  blood-thirsting  craze  in  a 
long  succession  of  Roman  emperors,  completely  extin- 
guishd  all  hopes  of  the  workingmen  for  the  achievement 
of  liberty  by  violent  means. 


PREFACE.  xiii 

In  the  light  then,  of  these  shocking  truths — which 
every  one  should  calmly  study  and  consider — let  us  ask 
ourselves  the  profoundly  relevant,  home-thrust  question : 
— shall  we,  a  second  time  be  suppressed  and  our  health- 
inspiring  agitation,  our  aroused  and  resuscitated  move- 
ment, our  hopes  of  better  days,  our  civilization  be  stop- 
ped? And  shall  labor  again  succumb  to  a  degenerate 
military  despotism  like  thatof  the  Neros,  Caligulas  and 
all  the  Caesars  ?  Here  lies  an  alarming  foreboding,  it  not 
a  posititve  danger ;  for  so  long  as  labor  still  obstinately 
refuses  to  vote  and  insists  upon  rebellion,  continues  to 
choose  the  irascible  rather  than  the  diplomatic,  how  can  it 
be  otherwise  hoped  or  expected  than  that  history  will 
repeat  itse.f? 


SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION. 


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Utrecht  &  Ley  den,   1699. 
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London,  1831    and  Others. 

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German  Paraphrase,     Sacher-Masoch,.   Leipzic,  1877. 
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xvi  SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION. 

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SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION.  xvii 

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xviii  SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION. 

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Xenophon,    De   Vectigali,    J 


*  The  Asterisks  refer  to   Works  that  were  c^nsuaea  by  the  author 
during  his  researches    abroad. 


COM  TEXTS  OF  THE  VOLUME. 
CHAPTER  I. 

TAINT  OF  LABOR. 

TKAITS   AXD  PECULIARITIES    OF   KACES. 

Grievances  of  the  Working  Classes — The  Competitive  System 
among  the  Ancients — Growing  Change  of  Taste  in  Read- 
ers of  History — Inscr  iptions  and  suppressed  Fragments 
more  recently  becoming  Incentives  to  reflecting  Readers 
who  seek  Them  as  a  means  to  secure  Facts — No  true  De- 
mocracy— No  primeval  Middle  Class  known  to  the  Aryan 
Family — Tiie  Taint  of  Labor  an  Inheritance  through  the 
Pagan  Religio-Political  Economy.  Page  37 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  INDOEUROPEANS. 

THEIR  COMPETITIVE   SYSTE3L 

RELIGION  AND  POLITICS  of  the  Indo-Europeans  Identical — Reason 
for  Religion  mixing  with  the  Movements  of  Labor — The 
Father  the  Original  Slaveholder — His  Children  the  Orig- 
5  ril  Slaves — Both  Liw  and  Religion  empowered  him  to  kill 
them— Work  or"  Conscience  in  the  Labor  Problem.  47 


xxiv  CONTENTS  OF  CHAPTERS. 

CHAPTEK  III. 

LOST  MSS.  ARCHEOLOGY. 

TRUE  HISTOEY  OF  LABOR  FOUND  ONLY  JN 
INSCRIPTIONS  AND  MUTILATED  ANNALS. 

PROTOTYPES  OF  Industrial  Life  to  be  found  in  the  Aryan  and 
Semitic  Branches — Era  of  Slavery — Dawn  of  Manumission 
— Patriarchal  Form  too  advanced  a  Type  of  Government 
possible  to  primitive  Man — Religious  Superstition  fatal  to 
Independent  Labor — Labor,  Government  and  Religion  in- 
dissolubly  mixed — Concupiscence,  Acqisitiveness  and  Iras- 
cibility a  Consequence  of  the  archaic  Bully  or  Boss,  with  un- 
limited Powers — Right  of  the  ancient  Father  to  enslave, 
sell,  torture  or  kill  his  Children — Abundant  Proofs  quoted — 
Origin  of  the  greater  and  more  humane  Impulses — Sym- 
pathy beyond  mere  Self-preservation,  the  Result  of  Ed- 
ucation— Education  originated  from  Discussion — Discussion 
the  Result  of  Grievances  against  the  Outcast  "Work-people — 
Too  rapid  Increase  of  their  Numbers  notwithstanding  the 
Sufferings — Means  Organized  by  Owners  for  decimating  them 
by  Murder — Ample  proof — The  great  Amphyctyonic  League 
— Glimpses  of  a  once  sullen  Combination  of  the  Desperate 
Slaves — Incipient  Organization  of  the  Nobles  Page  86 

CHAPTER  LV. 

ELEUSINIAN  MYSTERIES 

ANCIENT  GRIEVANCES  OF  THE  WORKERS. 

WORKING  PEOPLE  destitute  of  Souls— Original  popular  Beliefs — 
Plato  finally  gives  them  half  a  Soul — Modern  Ignorance  on 
the  true  Causes  of  certain  Developments  in  History — Sym- 
pathy, the  Third  Great  Emotion  developed  out  of  growing 
Ileason,  through  mutual  Commiseration  of  the  Outcasts — 
A  new  Cult — The  Unsolved  Problem  of  the  great  Eleusinian 
Mysteries — Their  wonderful  Story — Grievances  of  slighted 
"Workingmen — Organization  impossible  to  Slaves  except  in 
their  Strikes  and  Rebellions — The  Aristocrats'  Politics  and 
Religion  barred  the  Doors  against  Work-people — Extraor- 


CONTENTS  OF   CHAPTERS.  xxv 

dinary  Whims  and  Antics  at  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries — The 
Causes  of  Grievances  endured  by  the  Castaway  Laborers — 
Their  Motives  for  Secret  Organization — The  Terrible  Cryp- 
tia— The  horrible  Murders  of  Workingmen  for  Sport — Dark 
Deeds  Unvsiled — Story  of  the  Massacre  of  2,000  Working- 
men — Evidence — The  Grievances  in  Sparta — In  Athens — 
Free  Outcast  Builders,  Sculptors,  Teachers,  Priests,  Dancers, 
Musicians,  Artizans,  Diggers,  all  more  or  less  Organized — Re- 
turn to  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries — Conclusion.  Page  83 

CHAPTER  V. 

STRIKES  AND  UPRISINGS. 

GRIEVANCES  CONTINUED.    PLANS  OF  ESCAPE. 

FIRST  KNOWN  and  First  Tried  Plan  of  Salvation  was  that  of  Retal- 
iation— The  Slaves  test  the  Ordeal  of  Armed  Force— Irasci- 
bility of  the  Working  Classes  at  length  arrayed  against  their 
Masters — Typical  Strikes  of  the  ancient  Workingmen — Their 
Inhuman  Treatment — Famous  Strike  at  the  Silver  Diggings 
of  Laurium — 20,000  Artisans  and  Laborers  quit  Work  in  a 
Body  and  go  over  to  the  Foes  of  their  own  Countrymen — 
The  Great  Peloponnesian  War  Decided  for  the  Spart-  n*, 
against  the  Athenians  by  this  Fatal  Strike.  Page  13d 

CHAPTER  VL 

GRIEVANCES. 

LABOR  TROUBLES  AMONG  THE  ROMANS. 
MORE   BLOODY  PLANS   OF    SALVATION  TRIED. 

THE  IRASCIBLE  PLA\  in  Italy — Epidemic  Uprisings — Attempt  to 
Fire  the  City  of  Rome  and  have  Things  common — Conspir- 
acy of  Slaves  at  the  Metropolis — Two  Traitors — Betraya! — 
Deaths  on  the  Roman  Gibbet — Another  Great  Uprising  at  S  - 
tia — Expected  Capture  of  the  World — Land  of  Wine  nud 
Delight — Again  the  Traitor,  the  Betrayal  and  Gibbet — The 
Irascible  Plan  a  Failure — Strike  of  the  Agricultural  Laborers 
in  Etruria — Slave  Labor — Character  of  the  Etruscans — Expe- 


xxvi  CONTENTS   OF  CHAPTERS. 

dition  of  Glabro — Fightirg — Slaves  "Worsted — Punishment 
on  the  dreadful  Cross,  the  ancient  Block  for  the  Low-born — 
Enormous  Strike  in  the  Land  of  Labor  Organizations — One 
Glimpse  at  the  Cause  and  Origin  of  Italian  Brigandage — La- 
borers, Mechanics  and  Agriculturers  Driven  to  Despair — 
The  great  Uprising  in  Apulia — Fierce  Fighting  to  the  Dag- 
ger's Hilt — The  Overthrow,  the  Dungeon  and  the  Cross. — 
Proof  Dug  from  Fragments  of  Lost  History  Page  145 


CHAPTER  VH 

DRIMAKOS. 

A  QUEER  OLD  MAN  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

STRIKE;  OF  DRIMAKOS,  the  Chian  Slave — Co-operation  of  the 
Irascible  with  the  Sympathetic — A  Desperate  Greek  Bonds- 
man at  Large — Labor  Grievances  of  the  ancient  Scio — Tem- 
perament and  Character  of  Drimakos — Vast  Number  of  Tin- 
fortunate  Slaves — Revolt  and  Escape  to  the  Mountains — 
Old  Ruler  of  tbe  Mountain  Crags — Rigid  Master  and  loving 
Friend — Great  Successes — Price  offerei  for  his  Head — How 
he  lost  it — The  Reaction — Rich  and  Poor  all  mourn  his  Loss 
as  a  Calamity — The  Brigands  infest  the  Island  afresh  since 
the  Demise  of  Drimakos — The  Heroon  at  his  Tomb — An  Al- 
tar of  Pagan  Worship  at  which  this  Labor  Hero  becomes  the 
God,  reversing  the  Order  of  the  ancient  Rights — Ruins  of 
his  Temple  still  extant — Athengeus — Nymphodorus — Archae- 
ology— Views  of  modern  Philologists.  Page  l£3 

CHAPTER  YITT. 

VIRIATHUS. 

A  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  SPAIN. 

THE  Roman  Slave  System  in  Spain — Tyranny  in  Lusitania — 
Massacre  of  the  People — Condition  before  the  Outbreak — 
Fir.-t  Appearance  of  Viriathus — A  Shepherd  on  his  Native 


CONTENTS    OF  CHAPTERS.  xxvii 

»A  Giant  in  Stature  and  Intellect — He  takes  Com- 
mand— Vetillius  Outwitted — Captured  and  Slain — Conflict 
in  Tartessus — Romans  again  Beaten — Battle  of  the  Hill  of 
Venus — Viriathus  Slaughters  another  army  and  Humiliates 
Rome — Segobria  Captured — Arrival  of  JEmilianus — He  is 
Out-generaled  and  at  last  Beaten  by  Viriathus — More  Bat- 
tles and  Victories  for  the  Farmers — Arrival  of  Plautius 
•with  Fresh  Roman  Soldiers — Viriathus  made  King — More 
Victories — Treason,  Conspiracy  and  Treachery  Lurking  in 
Iris  Camps — Murdered  by  his  own  Perfidious  Officers — 
Pomp  at  His  Funeral — Relentless  Vengeance  of  the  Romans 
— Crucifixion  and  worse  Slavery  than  before — The  Cause 
Lost.  Page  178 


CHAPTER    iX 

EUNUS. 

GRIEVANCES.    MORE   SALVATION   ON 
THE   VINDICTIVE  PLAN. 

THK  IRASCIBLE  IMPULSE  in  its  Highest  Development  and  most 
enormous  Organization — Greatest  of  all  Strikes  found  on  Rec 
ord — Gigantic  Growth  of  Sla«>ry — General  View  of  Sicilian 
Landlordism  and  Servitude  before  the  Outbreak — Great  In- 
crease of  Bondsmen  and  Women — Enna,  Home  of  the  God- 
dess Ceres,  becomes  the  Stronghold  of  the  Great  Uprising — 
Eunus;  his  Pedigree — He  is  made  King  of  the  Slaves — Sto- 
ry of  his  10  Years'  Reign — Somebody,  ashamed  to  confess  it, 
has  mangled  the  Histories — The  Fragments  of  Diodorus  and 
other  Noble  Authors  Reveal  the  Facts — Cruelties  of  Damo- 
philus  and  Megallis,  the  immediate  Cause  of  the  Grievance — 
Eunus,  Slave,  Fire-spitter,  Leader,  Messiah,  King — Venge- 
ance— The  innocent  Daughter — Sympathy  hand-in-hand  with 
Irascibility  against  Avarice — Wise  Selection  by  Eunus,  of 
Achaeus  as  Lieutenant — Council  of  War — Mass-meeting — A 
Plan  agreed  to — Cruelty  of  the  Slaves — Their  Army — The 
War  begun— Prisons  broken  open  and  60.000  Convicts  work- 
ing in  the  Ergastul'i  set  free — Quotations — Sweeping  Extinc- 
tion of  the  Rich — Large  Numbers  of  Free  Tramps  join — An- 
other prodigious  Uprising  in  Southern  Sicily — Cleon — Con- 
jectures regarding  this  Obscure  Military  Genius — Union  of 
Eunus,  Achseus  and  Cleon — Harmony — Victories  over  the 
Romans — Insurgent  Force  rises  to  200.000  Men — Proof-- 


CONTENTS    OF    CHAPTERS. 

Overthrow  and  Extinction  of  the  Armies  of  Hypsseus  —  Man- 
lius  —  Lentulus  —  The  Victorious  Workingmen  give  no  Quarter 

—  Eunus  as  Mimic,  taunts  his  Enemies  by  Mock  Theatric*!,. 
Open-Air  Plays  in  the  Sieges  —  Cities  fall  into  his  Hands  — 
His  Speeches  —  Moral  Aid  through  the  Social  Struggle  with 
Gracchus  at  Borne  —  Arrival  of  a  Roman  Army  under  Piso  — 
Beginning  of  Reverses  —  0  1  ucifixions  —  Demoralization  —  Fall 
of  Messana  —  Siege  of  Enna  —  Inscriptions  verifying  History 

—  Romans  Repulsed  —  Arrival  of  Rupilius  —  Siege  of  Tauroma- 
nion  —  Wonderful    Death  of    Comanus  —  Cannibalism  —  Tbe 
City  falls  —  Awful  Crucifixions  —  SecondSiege  of  Enna  —  Its 
20,000  People  are  crucified  on  the  Gibbet  —  Eunus  captured 
and  Devoured  by  Lice  in    a  Roman  Dungeon  —  Disastrous 
End  of  the  Rebellion  or  so-called  Servile  War         Page  191 

CHAPTER  X. 

ARISTONICUS. 

A  BLOODY  STRIKE  IN  ASIA  MINOR. 


BONDSMEN,  TEAMPS  and  Illegitimates  Rise  against  Op- 
pression —  Contagion  of  monster  Strikes  —  Again  the  Irasci- 
ble Plan  of  Rescue  tried  —  Aristonicus  of  Pergamus  —  Story 
of  the  Murder  of  Titus  Gracchus  and  of  300  Land  Reformers 
by  a  Mob  of  Nobles  at  Rome  —  Blossius,  a  Noble,  Espouses 
the  Cause  of  the  Workingmen  —  He  goes  to  Pergamus  —  Tbe 
Heliopohtai  —  The  Commander  of  the  Labor  Army  overpiow- 
ers  all  Resistance  —  Battle  of  Leuca  —  Overthrow  of  the  Rom- 
ans —  Death  of  Orassus  —  Arrival  of  the  Consul  Paperna  —  De- 
feat of  the  Insurgents  —  Their  Punishment  —  Discouragement 
and  Suicide  —  Aristonious  strangled,  Thousands  crucified  and 
the  Cause  Lost  —  Old  Authors  Quoted 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ATHENION. 

ENORMOUS  STRIKE  AND  UPRISING  IN  SICILY. 

SKCOND  SICILIAN  LABOR-WAR  —  Tryphon  and  Athenion  —  Greed 
and  Irascibility  Again  Grapple  —  The  War  Plan  ol  Salvation 
Repeated  by  Slaves  and  Tramps  —  Athenion,  another  remark- 
able General  Steps  Forth  —  Castle  of  the  Twins  in  a  Hideous 
Forest  —  Slaves  goaded  to  Revolt  by  Treachery  and  Intrisme 


CONTENTS  OF  CHAPTERS.  xxix 

<of  a  Politician — Rebellion  and  the  Clangor  of  War — Battle 
in  the  Mountains — A  Victory  for  the  Slaves  at  the  Heights 
of  Engyon — Treachery  of  Gaddseus  the  Freebooter — Decoy 
and  Crucifixions — Others  cast  Headlong  over  a  Precipice — 
The  Strike  starts  up  Afresh  at  Heraclea  Minoa — Murder  of 
Clonius  a  rich  Roman  Knight — Escape  of  Slaves  from  his 
Ergastulum — Sharp  Battles  under  the  Generalship  of  Salyius 
— Strife  rekindles  in  the  West — Battle  of  Alaba — The  Pro- 
praetor punished  for  his  bad  Administration — Victory  Again 
"Wreathes  a  Laural  for  the  Lowly — A  vast  Uprising  in  West- 
ern Sicily — Athenion  the  Slave  Shepherd — Another  Fanatical 
Crank  of  Deeds — Rushing  the  Struggle  for  Existence — Fierce 
Battles  and  Blood-spilling — What  Ordinary  Readers  of  His- 
tory have  not  heard  of — Fourth  Battle;  Triokala — Meek 
Sacrifices  by  the  Slaves,  to  the  Twins  of  Jupiter  and  Tha- 
lia— March  to  Triokala— Jealousy — Groat  Battle  and  Car- 
nage— Athenion  Wounded — He  escapes  to  Triokala  and  re- 
covers— Fifth  Battle — Lucullus  marches  to  the  Working- 
men's  Fortifications — Batte  of  Triokala — The  Outcasts  Vic- 
torious— Lucullus  is  lo?t  from  View — Sixth  Battle — Servili- 
ns,  another  Roman  General  Overthrown — The  Terrible 
Athenion  Master  of  Sicily  and  King  over  all  the  Working- 
People — Seventh  and  Final  Field  Conflict — Battle  of  Macel- 
la — Death  of  Athenion — Victory  this  Time  for  the  Romans- 
End  of  the  Rebellion — Satyros,  a  powerful  Greek  Slave  es- 
capes to  the  Mountains  with  a  Force  of  Insurgents — They 
;are  finally  lured  to  a  Capitulation  by  Aquillius  who  treacher- 
onsly  tnrns  and  consigns  them  as  Gladiators  to  Rome 
— They  fight  the  Eighth  and  last  Battle  in  the  Roman  Am- 
phitheatre among  wild  Beasts — A  ghastly  mutual  Suicide — • 
The  Reaction — Treachery  of  Aquillius  Punished — The  Gold- 
Workers  pour  melted  Gold  down  his  Throat. .  .Page  145 


CHAPTER  XTI. 

SPARTACUS. 

THE  IRASCIBLE    PLAN  TESTED  ON   AN 
ENOKMOUS   SCALE. 

RIFE,  VICISSITUDES  and  Fall  of  a  Great  General — The  Strike  of 
the  Gladiators — Grievances  that  led  to  the  Trouble — Growth 
of  Slavery  through  Usurpation  of  the  Land  by  the  arrogant 
Optimates — What  is  known  of  Spartacus  before  being  Sold 


IXT  CONTENTS  OF  CHAPTERS. 

into  Slavery — Bolt  of  the  78  Gladiators  from  the  Ergastulum- 
of  Lentulus  at  Capua — Escape  of  the  Runaways — How  they 
seized  Weapons — Vesuvius — First  Battle — Battle  of  the  Cliffs 
— Rout  of  Clodius — Second  Battle — Destruction  of  a  Praeto- 
rian Army — Battle  of  the  Mineral  Baths — G  reat  Increase  of 
the  Rebel  Force — From  a  petty  Strike  it  assumes  .the  Propor- 
tions of  Revolution — Fourth  Battle ;  Hilt  to  Hilt  with  Var- 
inius — Destruction  of  the  Main  Army  of  the  Romans — Win- 
ter Quarters  of  Spartacus  at  Metapontem — Honor,  Discipline 
and  Temperance  of  the  Workingmen — Proofs  by  Pliny  and 
Plutarch — Coalision  with  the  Organized  Laborers  of  Italy — 
Uses  of  Gold  and  other  Ornaments  Forbidden — 'Wine  Ban- 
ished— Great  Numbers  Employed  in  the  Armories  of  Sparta- 
cus — Fifth  Battle — Battle  of  Mt.  Garganus — Ambuscade  of 
Arrius — Overthrow  and  Death  of  Crixus — Sixth  Battle — 
Spartacus  Destroys  the  Consular  Army  of  Poplicola — Sev- 
enth Battle — Great  Conflict  of  the  River  Po — Overthrow  of 
Cassius  and  Defeat  of  the  10,000  Romans — Spartacus,  now 
Master,  assumes  the  Offensive — Eighth  Battle — Lentulus  De- 
feated ;  Great  Army  nearly  annihilated — Mortification  and 
Terror  of  the  Romans — Ninth  Battle — Mutina — Proconsul 
Ca?sius  again  Routed  in  a  Disastrous  Conflict  with  the  wary 
Gladiator — Spartacus  now  obliged  to  contend  with  the  De- 
mon of  Insubordination — Crassus  elected  Consul — Reverses 
Begin — On  down  to  Rhegium — Sedition,  Treachery,  Betray- 
al— Workingmen's  own  Jealousies,  Insubordination  and  Lack 
of  Diplomacy  cause  their  final  Ruin — Tenth  Battle — Scaling 
of  the  Six  Mile  Ramparts  by  Spartacus — Battle  of  Grot  on — 
Destruction  of  the  Seceders,  Granicus  and  Castus — Obstinate- 
Fighting — Spartacus  arrives  and  checks  the  Carnage — Pe- 
telia,  the  Eleventh  Battle — Victory — Twelfth  Battle;  Silarus 
— Last  and  most  Bloody  Encounter — Spartacus,  stabbing  his 
Horse,  Rushes  sword  drawn,  in  search  of  Crassus — Heaps 
of  the  slain — Dying  like  a  King — End  of  the  War — The  great 
Supplicium — Pompey  and  Crassus,  emnlous  of  meagre  Hon- 
ors— Inhuman  Cruelties — Awful  Wreaking  of  Vengeance  on 
the  Cross — Dangling  Bodies  of  6,000  Crucified  Woikingmen 
along  the  Appian  Way — Thousands  of  Others  crucified — Ut- 
ter Failure  of  the  Irascible  Plan  of  Deliverance  Page  275 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

ORGANIZATION. 

HOME'S  ORGANIZED  WORKINGMEN  AND  WOMEN, 


CONTENTS  OF  CHAPTERS.  xxx 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  FREEDMEN — The  Jus  Coeundi — Roman  Un- 
ions— The  Collegium — Its  Power  and  Influence — What  the 
Poor  did  with  their  Dead — Cremation — Burial  a  Divine  Right 
which  they  were  too  Lowly  to  Practice — Worship  of  bor- 
rowed Gods — Incineration  or  Burial  and  Trade  Unions  com- 
bined— Proofs — Glance  at  the  Inner  social  Life  of  the  ancient 
Brotherhoods — State  Ownership  and  Management — Nation- 
alized Lands — Number  and  Variety  of  Trade  Unions — Strug- 
pies — Nnma  Pompilius  First  to  Recognize  and  Uphold  Trade 
Union? — Law  of  the  12  Tables  taken  from  Solon — Harmony, 
Peace,  Ease,  steady  Work,  Prosperity  and  Plenty  Lasting 
with  little  Interruption  for  500  Years — Bondmen  fared  worse. 

Pane  333 
CHAPTER  XIV. 


LAWS  AGAINST  COMMUNES. 

THE  GREAT   ECONOMIC  ORGANIZATIONS. 

ANCIENT  FKDEKATIONS  of  Labor — How  they  were  Employed  by 
the  Government — Nomenclature  of  ihe  Brotherhoods — Cat- 
egories of  King  Numa — Varieties  and  Ramifications  -  The 
Masons,- Stonecutters  and  Bricklayers — Federation  for  Mu- 
tnal  Advantages — List  of  the  35  Trade  Unions,  under  tl  e 
Jus  Coeundi.  Page  35ft 

CHAPTER  XV. 

•     TRADE    UNIONS. 

'ORGANIZED  AtMOR-MAKEBS  OF  ANTIQUITY. 

TRADE  UNIONS  TCENEH  to  the  Manufacture  of  Arms  and  Muni- 
tions of  War — How  it  came  about — The  Iron  and  Metal 
Worker? — Artists  in  the  Alley? — How  Belligerent  Rome 
was  FuinisLc  d  with  Weapons,  Shoes  and  Other  Necessa- 
ries for  Her  Warriors — The  Shieldmskers,  Arrowsmiths. 
Dyggermakers,  War- Gun  and  Slingmakers,  Battering-Ram- 
makers  etc. — Bootmakers  wbo  Cobbled  for  the  Roman  Troops 
— Wine  Men,  Bakers  aud  Sutlers — All  Organized — Unions 
of  Oil  Grinders;  of  Pork  Butchers;  even  of  Cattle  Fodderers 
— The  Haymakers — Organized  Fishermen — Ancient  Labor 
brought  charmingly  near,  by  Inscriptions.  Page  372 


xxxii  CONTENTS   OF  CHAPTERS. 

CHAPTER  XV J. 

TRADE  UNIONS. 

THE  GREAT  TRADES  VICTUALING  SYSTEM. 

Eo\v  ROME  WAS  FED — Unions  of  Fishermen — Discovery  of  a 
Strange  Inscription  at  Pompeii,  Proving  the  Political  Power 
and  Organization  of  the  Workingmen  and  "Women's  Unions 
—Female  Suffrage  in  Italy — The  Fish  Sailers — Wine  Smok- 
ers— Union  of  Spicemen — The  Game-Hunters'  Organizations 
— Unions  of  Amphitheatre-Sweepers — Unions  of  Wagoners, 
Ox-Drivers,  Muleteers,  Cooks, Weighers,  Tasters  and  Milkmen 
— The  Cooking  Utensil-Makers — Unions  of  Stewards — Old 
Familiar  Latin  Names,  with  Familiar  English  Meanings  Re- 
produced— Gaius  and  the  Twelve  Tables— Numerous  Notes 
with  References  to  Archaeological  Collections  and  to  Histories 
Giving  Pages  and  many  Necessary  Renderings,  of  the  OV- 
scure  .Curiosities  Described  Page  38°* 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNES 

AMUSEMENTS    OF  OLD.    UNIONS  OF  PLAYERS 

THE  COLLEGIA  SC^ENICORUM — Unions  of  Mimics — Horrible  Mim- 
ic Performances  in  Sicily — Bloody  Origin  of  Wakes — Unions 
of  Dancers,  Trumpeters,  Bagpipers,  and  Hornblowers — The 
Flute  Players — Roman  Games — Unions  of  C  ireus  Performers 
— Ot  Gladiators — Of  Actors — Murdering  Robust  Wrestlers 
for  Holiday  Pastimes — Unions  of  Fortunetellers — Proofs  in 
the  Inscriptions — Ferocious  Gladiatorial  Scenes  between  the 
Workingmen  and  Tigers,  Lions,  Bears,  and  Other.Wild  Beasts 
made  compulsory  by  Roman  Law .  Page  401 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TRADE  UNIONS. 

THE  ANCIENT  CLOTHING-CUTTERS. 


CONTENTS   OF   CHAPTERS.  xxxiii 


How  THE  ANCIENTS  wEKE  CLOTHED  —  The  Unions  of  Fullers  —  Of 
Linen  Weavers,  Wool-carders,  Cloth-combers  —  Inscriptions 
as  Proof  —  Later  Laws  of  Theodosius  and  Justinian  Revised 
—  Government  Cloth  Mills  —  "What  was  Meant  by  Public 
Works  —  Who  managed  Manufactures  —  The  Dyers  —  Old- 
fashioned  Shoes  of  the  Forefathers  —  How  made  —  Origin  of 
the  Crispins  —  The  Furriers'  Union  —  Roman  Ladies  and  Fin- 
eries of  Fur  —  The  great  Ragamuffin  Trade  —  Their  Innumer- 
able Unions  —  Ragpickers  of  Antiquity  —  Origin  of  the  Cen- 
ciajvole  —  Organization  of  the  Real  Tatterdemalions  —  Origin 
of  the  Gyps-ies—  Hypothesis  Page  415 


TRADE     UNIONS. 

THE  PAGAN  AND  CHRISTIAN  IMAGE  MAKERS. 

ORGANIZATIONS  OF  PEOPLE  who  worked  for  tlip  Gods — Bi>  and  lit- 
tle Godsmiths — Their  Unions  object  to  the  New  Religion  of 
Christianity  because  this,  originally  Repudiating  Idolatry, 
Ruined  their  Business — Compromise  which  Originated  the 
Idolatry  in  the  Church  of  to-day — The  Cabatores — Unions 
of  Ivory  Workers — Of  Bisellarii  or  Deity-Sedan-Makers — Of 
Imagemakers  in  Plaster— The  Unguentani  or  Unions  of  Per- 
fumemakers — Holy  Ointments  and  the  Unions  that  manu- 
factured them — Etruscan  Trinketmakers — Bookbinders — 
No  Proof  yet  found  of  their  Organization.  Page  428 

CHAPTER  XX. 

TRADE    UNIONS    CONCLUDED. 

THE  TAX-GATHERERS.    FINAL  REFLECTIONS. 

UNIONS  OF  COLLECTORS — A  Vast  Organized  System  with  a  Uni- 
form and  Harmoniously  Working  Business — Trade  Unions 
under  Government  Aid  and  Security — The  Ager  Publicus  of 
Rome — True  Golden  Age  of  Organized  Labor — Government 
Land — A  prodigious  Slave  System  their  Etiemy — Victims  of 
the  Slave  System — Premonitions  on  the  Coming  of  Jesus — 
Demand  by  His  Teachings  for  Absolute  Equality,  Page  437 


xxxiv  CONTENTS   OF   CHAPTERS.      . 

CHAPTER  XXX 

ROMANS  AND  GREEKS. 

THE  COUNTLESS    COMMUNES. 

UNIONS  OF  ROMANS  AND  GREEKS  compared — Miscellaneous  Soci- 
eties of  Tradesmen — Shipcarpenters — Boatmen — Vesselmak- 
ers — Millers — Organization  of  the  Lupanarii — Of  the  Anci- 
ent Firemen — Description  of  the  G-reek  Fraternities — The 
Eranoi  and  Thiasoi — Strange  Mixture  of  Fiety  aud  Business 
— Trade  Unions  of  Syria  and  North  Palestine — Their  Offi- 
cers— Membership  and  Influence  of  Women — Large  Num- 
bers of  Communes  in  the  Islands  of  the  Eastern  Mediterra- 
nean— Their  Organizations  Known  and  Described  From^'their 
Inscriptions .  Page  444 

CHAPTER  XXH. 

THE  ANCIENT    BANNER. 

INCALCULABLY  AGED  FLAG  OF  LABOR. 

"  HB  OLD,  Old  Crimson  Ensign — An  Emblem  of  Peace  and  Good 
Will  to  Man — Strange  Power  of  Human  Habit — Descent  of 
the  Rsd  Banner  through  Primitive  Culture — "White  and  Azure 
the  Colors  of  Mythical  Angels,  Grandees  and  Aristocrats — 
Colors  for  the  Lowly  without  Family,  Souls  or  other  Seraphic 
Attributes — How  the  Bed  Vexillum  was  Stolen  from  Labor 
— Tricks  which  Compromised  Peace  Tenets  of  the  Flag — The 
Flag  at  the  Dawn  ot  Labor's  Power — Testimony  of  Polybius 
— Of  Livy — Of  Plutarch — Causes  of  Working  People's  Affec- 
tion for  Red— The  Emblem  of  Health  and  the  Fruits  of  Toil 
— Ceres  and  Minerva  their  Protectresses  and  Mother-God- 
desses Wore  the  Flaming  Red — Emblem  of  Strength  and  Vi- 
tality— Archaeology  in  Proof — Their  Color  First  Borrowed 
from  Crimson  Sun-Beams — More  Light  and  less  Darkness — 
White  and  Pale  Hues  for  the  Priests — Origin  of  the  Word 
"  FLAG"— It  is  the  Word-Root  of  "  Flame  "  a  Red  Color- 
Proofs  Quoted — Mediaeval  Banner  in  France  and  England — 
The  Red  of  All  Modern  Flags  Borrowed  from  that  of  the  An- 
cient Unions — Disgraceful  Ignorance  of  Modern  Prejudice 
and  Censure.  Page  465 


CONTENTS  OF   CHAPTERS. 


Evidence  showing  that  the  Early  Christians  were  Members 
— Testimony  of  Philo — Of  Eusebius — Facts  Related  by  One 
of  the  Fathers — A  Full  Rendering — Numbers  and  Ways  oi 
the  Secret  Orders  in  and  about  Canaan  at  the  Time  of  Christ 
— The  Secret  Order  of  Eranists — Inscriptions  deciphered  by 
Bockh  and  other  Masters — Tertulian's  Evidence — Community 
of  Goods — The  Eranistes  and  Thiasotes — Great  Numbers  of 
Secret  Societies  in  Asia  Minor  and  Syria.  Page  276 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 


PLANTS    OF  THE  ANCIENT  BENEFACTORS. 

SAVINGS  or  PLATO;  Of  ARISTOTLE,  Theophrastus,  Xenophon,  De- 
mosthenes— Their  Comparison  with  those  of  Jesus — Views 
of  Social  Life  among  the  Ancients — Despotic  Conditions — 
More  of  Concupiscence,  Cupidity  and  Irascibility  than  Sym- 
pathy— Sympathy  the  Nursling  of  the  Unions — How  the  Re- 
nowned Flan  of  Lycurgus  Failed — Its  Description — How  it 
abetted  Bondage  and.  Suffering — Plans  of  Lycurgus  and  Jesus 
Compared — Plain  Talk  on  Original  Meanings — Plato's  Cele- 
brated "City  of  the  Blessed"  a  Land  of  Masters  and  Slaves — 
A  Labyrinth  of  worthless  Statesmanship — Aristotle — His 
Mansion  of  Beatitudes — Political  Castle  built  on  the  Sands  of 
Aristocracy  and  Caste — Laborers  Damned — The  Stagerite 
and  Jesus  compared — Important  comparative  Hope  in  the 
Plan  of  Jesus  as  a  Politico- Economic  Basis  of  a  Lasting  Gov- 
ernment— Spartan  Government.  Page  339. 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

THE   TRUE    MESSIAH. 

FOUNDERS  OF  GREAT  INSTITUTIONS  COMPARED 

How  THE  REAL  MESSIAH  found  Things  at  His  Advent  on  Earth- 
Palestine — Syria — Rhodes  and  the  Islands — Suffering  Con- 
dition of  Labor — Seeds  of  the  Revolution  already  Sown — 
Further  Analysis  of  the  Conditions — The  Eranoi  and  Thiasoi 
— Orgeons  and  Essenes — Falsehoods  regarding  the  Bacchante 


xxxv i  CONTENTS  OF  CHAPTERS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

PALESTI  N  E; 

HER   PRE-CHRISTIAN    COMMUNES. 

CRADLE  OF  A  Mighty  Reform — Acquisitiveness  and  Concupiscence 
in  open  Conflict  with  Irascibility  and  Sympathy — A  new  An- 
alysis of  the  Origin  of  the  celebrated  Movement  in  Judaea — 
Communes  of  Palestine — Boundaries  between  the  Lowly  of 
Phoenicia,  Judaea,  Greece  and  Rome,  Unrecognized — Num- 
bers of  the  Organized  About  the. Cradle  of  the  Savior — Diffi- 
culty of  comprehending  the  true  Import  of  the  Judaic  Idea 
in  that  Movement — Argument  and  Inscriptions  Showing  it 
to  have  been  the  Result  of  a  long  Line  of  Culture,  Organiz- 
ation and  Experiment.  Page  493 


THE    ANCIENT    LOWLY. 

CHAPTER  L 

TAINT  OF  LABOR.  . 

TRAITS  AND  PECULIARITIES  OF  RACES. 

GRIEVANCE  of  the  Working  Classes— The  Competitive  System 
among  the  Ancients — Growing  Change  of  Taste  in  Readers 
of  History — Inscriptions  and  Suppressed  Fragments  more  re- 
cently becoming  Incentives  to  Reflecting  Readers  who  Seek 
them  as  a  Means  to  secure  Facts — No  true  Democracy  -  No 
primeval  Middle  Class  known  to  the  Aryan  Family — The 
Taint  of  Labor  an  Inheritance  through  the  Pagan  Religio- 
Political  Economy. 

STUDENTS  of  history  appear  to  be  of  three  distinct 
classes:  first,  those  who  examine  it  to  enjoy  the  stir- 
ring scenes  of  war  and  the  exhibit  that  it  makes  of  pop- 
ular pageant,  pomp  and  military  genius ;  secondly,  those 
who  examine  it  with  an  object  of  gleaning  facts  regard- 
ing spiritual,  ecclesiastical  and  other  matters  of  reli- 
gion; and  lastly  those  who  search  for  reco  anted  deeds  as 
well  as  clues  to  tenets  of  social  movements  among  man- 
kind. In  this  last,  there  has  been  an  increasing  interest 
since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Among  the  precious  obscurities  sought  by  our  genera- 
tion are  historical  fragments,  obscure  hints  and  allusions 
and  queer  palseographs  on  tablets  of  bronze,  stone,  earth- 
enware and  other  objects,  containing  inscriptions,  symbols 
and  emblems,  even  rules  showing  the  existence  of  labor  so- 
cieties all  through  the  past  civilization.  Especially  is  re- 
search quickened  in  the  hearts  of  a  certain  class  of  anti- 
quaries who  are  interested  in  the  search  of  ijistory,  for  its 
social  phases. 


38  RACE  PECULIARITIES. 

It  is  evident  from  all  clues  obtainable  that  in  the  open 
world  there  has  never  existed  a  social  government.  Ef- 
forts have  been  made  to  prove  that  mankind  at  various 
intervals  and  at  various  points,  once  enjoyed  conditions 
of  life  based  so  radically  upon  democratic  laws  as  to  re- 
semble those  now  advocated;  but  such  examples  do  not 
bear  the  test  of  rigid  investigation.  Although  there  havo 
existed  republics  and  paternal  governments  they  have 
been  so  tinged  with  patrician  leadership  on  the  one  hand 
and  patriarchal  dictatorship  on  the  other,  as  to  render  it 
impossible  to  compare  them  with  the  socialism  now  advo- 
cated, where  the  lowly  ascend  and  the  lordly  descend,  to 
unite  on  a  common  level.  The  deep  aim  of  these  great 
struggles  of  our  age  known  as  the  labor  movement  is  to 
acquire  and  to  enjoy  complete  and  lasting  co-operation^ 
This  co-operation,  or  brotherhood  of  life  economies  is  ex- 
pected to  be  not  only  political  but  economical,  changing 
both  the  government  and  the  methods  of  creating  and 
dispensing  the  means  of  life,  from  the  competitive  into 
the  purely  democratic  or  co-operative.  A  practical  adop- 
tion of  this  mutualism  by  any  tribe  or  branch  of  the  hu- 
man family  has  probably  never  yet  occurred  and  never 
has  such  a  state  of  things  existed  except  among  those  se- 
cretly organized,  of  whom  we  propose  to  treat. 

All  the  evidences  combine  to  prove  that  the  only  meth- 
od societies  have  ever  yet  used,  either  in  political  or  in 
economic  life,  is  the  competitive  one;  and  as  the  change 
from  the  purely  competitive  into  the  purely  co-operative 
involves  little  less  than  revolution,  or  to  say  the  least,  in- 
troversion, it  becomes  a  study  of  gravest  importance. 
In  the  remote  past  so  meagre  was  the  co-operative  and 
so  potent  the  competitive  that  there  existed  no  interme- 
diary classes  and  conflicts  were  common  in  consequence. 
Roscher  thinks  that  middlemen  are  an  indispensable  el- 
ement to  peace;  and  it  seems  evident  that  his  opinions 
are  not  without  grounds,  when  applied  to  every  stage  of 
the  competitive  system  in  all  known  ages  of  the  world. l 

t  Prinripts  ff  fccemmnie  polilique,  Paris,  135T,  pp.  175-6.  "Tant  qu'll  existe 
entre  les  riches  et  les  pauvres  nne  clsse  interniedlaire  considerable,  1  influence 
morale  qu'el.e  exerce  suflit  pour  enipeeher  une  collis.ju  '. 


7A  WNING  A  B  YSS  BETWEEN  RICH  A  ND  POOR.    39 

Glimpses  of  evidence  reward  the  researchers  into  the 
early  history  of  the  laboring  masses  by  establishing  the 
fact   that  there  primarily  existed  no  middle  class.     But 
we  find  great  numbers  of  freedmen  or  plebeians  as  early 
as  700  years  before  Christ.     Men  were  originally  divided 
into  lords  and  servants.     There  were  masters  and  there 
were  slaves.     The  chasm  between  these  two  was  an  emp- 
ty p.i  so  wide  that  no  leap  from  one  class  to  the  other 
was  considered  either  practicable  or  imaginable.    As  late 
as  the  sophists  there  appears  a  pronounced  aversion  to 
wage  taking,  especially  in  all  business  having  for  its  ob- 
ject educational  results.     Plato  abhorred  a  sophist  who 
would  work  for  wages.     Public  servants  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  philosophy  and  other  branches  of  what  was  then 
an  ordinary'  education^were  despised  when  they  allowed 
themselves  to  belittle  their  manhood  and  their  calling  by 
this  ignoble  pay.    Plato  received  gifts  from  the  rich  but 
refused  pay.     He  was  a  patrician  or  peer.     A  statesrtrn 
of  to-day  who  receives  gifts  and  is  not  content  with  his 
salary  is  regarded  with  distrust  and  aversion,  almost  e- 
qual  to  that  against  wages  in  ancient  times.    One  can  a<  - 
count  for  this  metamorphosis  of  ethics  only  in  the  COIL- 
parative  absence  in  those  days  of  labor  among  patricians 
or  managers.     Although  free  mercenary  soldiers  were 
common  who  took  wages  for  their  recompense,  and  free 
hucksters  and  other  petty  dealers  were  known  to  exist, 
yet  most  labor  of  cultivation,  of  building,  of  housekeep- 
ing and  a  considerable  amount  of  the  labor  of  mechanics 
was  performed  by  slaves. 

The  law  of  Moses  had  partly  abolished  slavery  among 
the  Hebrews  as  early  as  B.  C.  1400,  probably  on  account 
of  the  contempt  for  that  degradation  which  the  Hebrews 
felt,  after  the  deliverance  from  their  protracted  slavery 
in  Egypt.  It  appears  that  the  Hebrews  were  the  chief 
originators  and  conservators  of  what  is  now  known  and 
advocated  in  the  name  of  socialism;  and  their  weird  life, 
peculiar  language,  laws,  struggles  and  inextinguishable 
nationality  scintillate  through  many  of  the  obcurities  of 
history  in  a  manner  to  command  the  wonder  if  not  the 
awe  of  all  lovers  of  democratic  society.  Especially  does 
this  remark  apply  when  we  consider  the  intensely  and 


40  ANCIENT  GRIEVANCES  OF  LABOR. 

bitterly  opposite  character  of  every  other  community  or 
nationality  with  which  the  Hebrew  race  has  ever  come  in 
contact. 

The  Hebrew  people  were  the  Congregation  and  the 
place  where  they  assembled  was  called  the  Tabernacle. 
The  Pentateuch  that  records  the  great  Jewish  law,  quite 
sufficiently  explains  that  absolute  liberty,  or  relative  soci- 
al equality  was  a  law  of  Moses.4  Under  no  other  code  of 
laws  have  equal  rights  of  man  with  man  been  possible 
among  other  contemporaneous  nations  or  tribes;  because 
the  ethics  of  the  family,  the  city  or  state,  were  grounded 
upon  the  competitive  rather  than  the  co-operative  or  mu- 
tual principle.3  Nearly  all  the  ancients  were  fighters. 
The  Hebrew  branch  of  the  great  Semitic  family  seems  to 
have  been  a  partial  exception.  It  is  true  that  they  had 
wars  and  competed  with  outsiders;  but  their  peace-lov- 
ing traits  within  their  own  ranks,  prevailed  over  warlike 
ones,  probably  somewhat  as  a  result  of  their  long  captiv- 
ity in  Egypt,  but  principally  from  the  peaceful  and  hu- 
mane code  of  laws  which  they  received  from  Moses.  But 
it  appears  very  certain  that  Jewish  monotheism,  together 
with  the  social  or  mutually  protective  habits  of  this  peo- 
ple and  their  comparatively  mild  laws  made  them  the  ob- 
ject of  hatred  among  the  more  competitive  and  conse- 
quently fiercer  nations  with  whom  they  came  in  contact. 

It  is  not  then,  from  this  Semitic  branch  of  the  human 
family  that  our  struggling,  warlike  and  competitive  char- 
acteristics are  derived.  A  close  observation  of  the  He- 
brews discloses  that  although  they  were  often  engaged 
in  strifes  it  was  generally  because  attacked.  The  aggress- 
iveness which  characterizes  mankind  springs  not  from 
the  Semitic  so  much  as  from  the  Aryan  germ.4  Two  dis- 
tinct ideas  have  been  contended  for  from  the  dimmest  re- 
moteness either  of  the  provable  or  the  conjectural  history. 
One  is  the  co-operative,  which  means  the  mutually  pro- 
tective or  socialistic,  the  other  the  competitive  or  warlike 
and  aggressive. 

«  Leviticus,  six.    Mann's  History  of  Ancient  and  Mediaeval  Republics,  pp. 

»  Fnstel  de  Conlanges.    Cit6  Antique,  Chap.  i.  Croyances  sur  1'ame  et  sur 
Is  mort. 

<  The  Phoenicians    are  excepte .1  from  this  remark. 


A  ORE  AT  POWER   UNRECOGNIZED.  41 

Through  thousands  of  ages  men  have  vigorously  con- 
tended for  these  antipodal  results,  especially  in  Europe. 
They  have  contended  for  them  through  religious  beliefs, 
through  social  inculcation  and  philosophy,  through  rig- 
id scholastic  training,  and  through  the  most  implacable 
hatreds,  bloody  persecutions  and  race-wars  ever  recorded 
in  the  annals  of  mankind.  Until  we  become  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  history  of  the  poor  classes  and  divest 
ourselves  of  clouds  that  have  hitherto  obscured  tjhe  vision 
of  all  historians;  until  we  study  the  past  especially  the  som- 
ber life  and  strange  career  of  the  Semitic  family,  from  a 
standpoint  of  development  or  evolution,  and  analyze  their 
strangely  tenacious  and  persistent  views  unbiased  by 
the  views  through  which  we  are  still  taught  to  regard 
others;  until  we  can  catch  the  practical  advantages  of  co- 
operation, mutually  one  with  another  and  thoroughly  see 
the  savage  nature  of  competitive  life,  must  we  remain 
blind  to  the  true  object  which  inspired  the  greatestad- 
vent  of  this  world ; — the  visit  and  labors  at  Palestine  and 
the  movement  whose  undying  germs  there  planted  the 
world  still  loves  and  cultivates. 

These  words  are  expressed  preliminarily  to  announcing 
facts  which  have  perhaps  never  before  been  observed 
and  certainly  never  enough  considered : — that  the  Ary- 
an or  Indo-European  branch  of  the  human  race  has  al- 
ways, in  private  and  in  public  life,  in  religion,  in  soci- 
al conventionalism,  in  methods  of  reasoning  and  in  its 
political  economy,  been  competitive^  whilst  the  Semitic 
branch  has  ever  been  co-operative.  For  thousands  of 
years  these  two  great  families  have  lived  over  against 
each  other,  sometimes  mixed,  sometimes  by  themselves, 
have  struggled  and  fought,  have  built  up  and  torn  down, 
each  with  its  own  inexorably  fixed  notions;  and  never 
as  we  shall  prove,  did  they  show  anything  like  a  fusion 
or  even  a  conciliation  of  the  two  systems  until  three 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  Christ.  They  are  war- 
ring still ;  and  the  direct  causes  of  this  warfare  as  well 
as  its  direct  results  are  the  great  labor  movements  of  to- 
day. We  hope  in  these  pages  to  show  that  the  natural 
bent  of  the  lowly  majority  of  mankind  is  toward  co-op- 


42  RA  CE  PECULIA  RITIES. 

eration;  that  race  hatreds  ran  so  high  that  it  became 
necessary  to  have  an  Intercessor  or  mediator  to  act  be- 
tween the  two  races  and  their  two  ideas,  in  order  to 
bring  about  a  mutually  co-operative  system  under  which 
the  large  majorities,  including  working  people  could  bet- 
ter subsist.  It  became  necessary  to  have  this  Interces- 
sor not  merely  to  arrange  a  religion  based  upon  salvation 
of  the  soul  or  immortal  principle,  but  more  likely,  as  our 
train  of  evidence  goes  to  prove,  to  introduce  an  organiz- 
ed method  for  the  economic  salvation  of  the  downtrod- 
den and  realize  practically  the  promised  "Heaven  on 
earth." 

We  mean  by  this  that  from  the  days  of  Moses,  dating- 
something  above  fourteen  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
there  have  existed  two  distinctly  opposite  sets  of  ideas  or 
of  thought  upon  which  mankind — the  arrogant  blooded 
family  with  its  competition  on  the  one  hand  and  the  slave 
with  his  rebellions,  and  freedman  with  his  formidable  un- 
ions on  the  other — have  been  struggling  to  build  up  civil- 
izations. The  transition  from  a  completely  competitive 
to  a  mutually  co-operative  system  involved  complete  rev- 
olution. The  channels  in  which  human  thought  has  run 
since  man  has  been  a  mere  animal,  occupying  as  the  the- 
ory of  evolution  daringly  asserts,  a  hundred  thousand  or 
more  of  years,  have,  except  in  the  case  of  the  persecuted 
and  sometimes  almost  exterminated  unions,  been  purely 
competitive. 

The  competitive  is  the  oldest  system  known.  It  is  pro- 
foundly aged.  It  is  the  system  employed  by  all  living  be- 
ings by  which  to  procure  for  individuals,  each  for  itself  and 
its  species,  the  means  wherewith  to  subsist.  It  is,  with- 
out the  least  saadow  of  doubt,  the  original.  It  consists 
in  methods  of  the  individual,  whether  a  weed,  a  tree,  fox, 
reptile,  hawk  or  human  being,  of  subsisting,  as  an  isola- 
ted creature  or  ego,  independently  of  others.  It  has  recog- 
nized self  as  uppermost  and  taken  upon  its  own  respon- 
sibility for  others'  sake  their  care  only  for  gratification  of 
self,  as  that  manifested  in  preservation  of  species. 

Back  in  the  remote  past,  as  reason  began  to  dawn  upon 
creeping  cave-dwellers  or  troglodytes  of  our  race,  when 


TWO  ANTAGON1STICAL  SYSTEMS.  43 

thought  was  inspired  by  suspicion  and  methods  of  subsist- 
ence were  based  upon  cunning,  nature,  in  the  vagueness 
of  his  understanding  was  full  of  terrors.  As  he  began  to 
realize  the  certainty  of  death,  man  established  the  first  re- 
ligion ;  but  it  was  purely  upon  the  competitive  basis,  al- 
ways with  this  aristocratical  ego  uppermost. 

Not  until  uncounted  ages  had  passed,  nor  until  this  pa- 
gan religion  was  inconceivably  old  did  another  appear, 
arising  from  the  mutually  protective  or  co-operative  idea. 
This  was  at  so  late  a  period  that  by  groping  back  into  the 
misty  past,  we  are  enabled  to  know  its  founder  and  trace 
its  history.  That  it  was  an  innovation,  intolerably  anti- 
thetical to  this  more  agi^d,  original  competition  or  brute- 
force  underlying  and  inspiring  both  business  and  religion  is 
proved  by  the  hatreds  borne  against  it,  which  have  so 
stamped  themselves,  not  so  much  upon  the  religion  as  up- 
on the  whole  race  that  kindled  its  name,  spoke  its  tongue 
and  cherished  its  ideas. 

The  great  struggle  going  on  to-day  seems  best  under- 
stood by  the  laborer.5  Persons  brought  up  under  the 
purely  competitive  system  which  governs  human  affairs, 
see  with  difficulty  the  idea  of  true  socialism  ;  but  the  Jews 
even  of  our  day,  grasp  it  with  ease.  We  are  at  a  loss  to 
comprehend  this.  Why  should  the  two  founders  of  the 
labor  party  in  Germany  have  arrived  while  young,  at  the 
same  conception  of  a  method  which  involves  a  revolution 
from  the  prevailing  ideas  of  political  economy?  Marx  and 
Lasselle  had  been  born  and  educated  under  the  Mosaic 
law.  Bicardo,  a  Jewish  speculator  in  stocks,  was  brought 
up  in  strict  obedience  to  the  Jewish  law  by  his  father ;  but 
finding  the  Hebrew  doctrine  very  adverse  to  his  specula- 
tive tendencies,  notions  of  wages  and  political  economy,  he 
withdrew  or  seceded  from  his  ancestral  religion  and  join- 
ed the  more  numerous  ranks  of  the  competitive  one." 

The  Mosaic  Law,  divested  of  its  idiosyncracies  such  as 

»  See  Prof.  Ely's  French  and  German  Socialisms ;  Chan.  xii.  pp.  1S9-20&; 
Lassalle'8  Allgemeiner  Dautscher  Arbeiter  Vereiu.  Ferdinand  Lassalle  and  Karl 
Marx  were  Jews;  and  it  is  conjectured  that  their  en se  in  comprehending  the 
true  theorUs  of  the  working  people  eminated  from  their  early  training. 

•  McCnlloch,     Introduction  to  The  Life  of  Ricardo ;    London,  1878. 


44  RACE  PECULIARITIES. 

thirty-two  hundred  years  ago,  when  men  were  simpler, 
were  suitable  enough,  condensed  into  fair  English,  reads 
about  as  follows: 

It  is  compulsory  upon  every  man  to  stand  in  awe  and 
obedience  before  father  and  mother  and  to  keep  the  sab- 
bath. Do  not  turn  in  favor  of  idols  nor  make  molten 
gods  for  your  worship.  All  sacrifice  of  a  peace  offering 
must  be  offered  of  your  own  free  will,  and  eaten  the  same 
day  and  the  next;  for  if  any  of  it  remain  until  the  third, 
it  must  be  burned  as  unhallowed  and  abominable. 

When  you  reap  the  harvests  of  your  land,  leave  some 
in  the  corners  of  the  field  and  do  not  gather  the  glean- 
ings of  the  harvest  nor  glean  the  vineyards.  Leave  some- 
thing for  the  poor  and  the  stranger.7  All  stealing,  false 
dealing  and  lying,  one  to  another  are  forbidden.  You 
must  not  swear  by  my  name  falsely  nor  profane  it.  You 
are  forbidden  to  defraud  or  rob  your  neighbor.  Pay  with- 
out delay  the  wages  agreed  upon,  to  those  whom  you  en- 
gage to  labor  for  you.  Never  ill-treat  the  deaf  nor  put  a 
stumbling  block  before  the  blind.  Be  careful  and  dis- 
creet in  your  judgment  and  your  word  of  honor,  treating 
neighbors  with  righteous  equality.  Never  go  about  tale- 
bearing among  the  people,  nor  stir  feuds  with  neighbors. 
To  hate  your  brother  is  forbidden  and  to  prevent  him 
from  falling  into  error  you  should  call  his  attention  to 
his  fault.  Abstain  from  revenges  and  grudges  against 
the  people  and  love  your  neighbor  as  yourself.  Cultivate 
your  stock  after  the  natural  law  of  selection.  Let  the 
seed  of  your  fields  be  pure.  Let  your  garments  be  un- 
mixed; if  linen,  let  them  be  of  pure  linen;  if  wool,  let 
thorn  be  all  wool. 

Then  follow  many  details  minutely  describing  what 
constitutes  crime  and  what  the  punishment.  Many  of 
the  punishments,  while  probably  in  very  good  keeping 
with  an  early  and  semi-barbarous  age,  appear  to  us  brut- 
al and  distastful  in  the  extreme.  The  severe  punishment 
of  death 8  visited  upon  all  who  denied  the  peculiar  people 
T?y  mixing  their  blood  with  Moloch,*  has  gone  far  toward 
preserving  the  Hebrew  stock  from  admixture  with  other 
races  of  mankind.  The  purity  with  which  the  Jews  have 

7  Leviticus,    xxiii.    22.  « Lmticut.    rr.    2.    7.  9  Leviticus,    xxi.    14. 


RELIGION  AND  TOIL  UNAVOIDABLY  MIXED.     45 


thus  maintained  themselves  amid  vicissitudes,  such  as 
would  have  swallowed  up  and  annihilated  any  other  fam- 
ily of  the  human  race,  is  readily  pronounced  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  phenomena  encountered  in  the  study  of 
ethnology.  The  command  is  severe  against  witch,  wiz- 
zard  and  spirit- worship.10  This  must  be  partly  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  the  Egyptians,  under  whose  domina- 
tion the  Jews  had  chafed  for  400  years  as  slaves,  were 
among  the  most  superstitious  in  their  belief  in,  and  wor- 
ship of  ah1  sorts  of  prestigiation.  Charms,  incantations, 
witchcraft  and  all  the  sleights  of  the  wrand  were  so  pop- 
ular that  the  art  was  for  ages  interwoven  with  their  reli- 
gion. However  much  we  may  desire  to  ignore  all  men- 
tion of  religion  in  this  history  of  the  ancient  lowly,  we 
find  this  impossible  because  of  the  prevalence  of  priest- 
power  and  dictum  in  political  economy.  The  Hebrews 
were  the  only  ancients  who  worshiped  one  deity;11  and 
as  that  deity  is  represented  to  be  the  very  one  who 
dictated  the  law  of  Moses,  he  would  naturally  be  severe 
against  false  gods.  "I  am  a  jealous  God,"  is  an  expression 
often  repeated  in  the  bible;11  and  such  a  one  in  giving  a 
code  of  laws  for  the  government  of  men  would  scarcely  do 
otherwise  than  make  idolatry  a  crime.  Immodesty  also 
receives  a  full  share  of  condemnation  from  the  great  He- 
brew law,  which  thoroughly  defines  ls  what  constitutes 
unrefined  or  immodest  actions. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  a  lofty  spirit  of  chastity  and  of  mor- 
al purity  is  inculcated  into  aU  the  Mosaic  law.  There  is 
nothing  in  it  that  binds  the  Jews  to  the  practice  of  any- 
thing like  close  community  of  goods.  The  law  of  Moses 
is  not  communistical.  Competitive  methods  then  as  now, 
were  the  reigning  ones.  But  the  law  was  mutually  pro- 
tective. The  condition  of  society  to-day  is  toned  in  a 
great  measure  by  the  practice  of  the  demands  of  this  aged 
code.  Nearly  all  of  the  above  cited  paragraphs  are  now 
being  obeyed  by  us;  and  they  act  alike,  among  Jew  and 

10  Leviticta,    TO..    6.     Witch  hanging  by  our  fore-fathers    originates  here. 

11  By  this  is  meant  •  one  animate,  all-powerful  being.    Ancient  Beliotry  and 
other  Pagan  forms,  must  of  which  treated  the  working  class  with  contempt 
and   cruelty  as  we  shall  show,  paid  homage  V»  inanimate,  repretentativt  goats. 

1 2  Ezvdus.     XX.     6.  it  Leviticus,     XX.     1 7. 


46  RACE  PECULIARITIES. 

gentile,  an  effective  part  in  keeping  our  civilization  pure. 
The  command14  that  the  people  when  harvesting  their 
grain  and  grapes,  should  not  forget  those  who  are  less 
fortunate,  but  should  leave  some  for  them,  is  a  touching 
rebuke  to  the  niggardly  system  of  these  more  enlighten- 
ed times.  One  remarkable  habit,  that  of  buying  and  sell- 
ing, owning  and  profiting  upon  slaves,  even  of  their  own 
kindred,16  seems  inconsistent  and  cannot  again  enter  into 
practice.  It  also,  to  our  critical  understanding,  brings 
into  severe  reproach  and  doubt  the  sacred  or  divine  au- 
thorship of  the  law  of  Moses.  Jesus  rectified  all  this. 

Most  of  the  customs  of  the  Hebrews  are  fixed.  The 
«ame  rules  established  in  Palestine  thirty-two  hundred 
years  ago  are  still  adhered  to.  It  is  true  that  at  that  time 
Judaea  was  a  farming  or  pastoral  country;  and  that  the 
Jews  of  to-day,  having  been  separated  by  defeat  and  per- 
secution, scattered  and  distributed  to  all  portions  of  the 
world,  cannot  continue  their  original  pastoral  and  agricul- 
tural vocations  and  so  have  become  merchants  and  mon- 
ey lenders  and  have  assumed  the  various  methods  of  ob- 
taining a  living  similarly  to  other  people.  It  is  also  true 
that  being  thus  isolated,  having  no  country,  and  obliged 
to  exist  in  the  competitive  world,  under  the  competitive 
idea,  they  act  among  outsiders  competitively.1*  This  they 
<io ;  and  they  do  it  thoroughly. 

uLevtticus  xix.  9,  10.  i&Exodus  xxi.  2—8.  Oar  object  In  bring- 

ing the  Jewish  question  in  here,  is  to  arrange  the  groundwork  before  bringing 
forward  the  great  movements  of  the  lowly,  enslaved  workinir  people,  who,  as 
will  be  seen,  had  not  only  their  grievance  but  their  distinct  Plant  of  Salvation 
.from  trouble,  which  they  for  ages  followed. 

"'•See    Millman,       History    of    the    Jewi. 


CHAPTER    IL 

THE    INDO-EUROPEANS. 

THEIE   COMPETITIVE    SYSTEM. 

RELIGION  and  Politics  of  the  Indo-Europeans  Identical — Reason 
for  Religion  mixing  with  Movements  of  Labor — The  father 
the  Original  Slaveholder — His  Children  the  Original  Slaves 
— Both  the  Law  and  Religion  empowered  him  to  Kill  them 
— Work  of  Conscience  in  the  Labor  Problem, 

HISTORY  began  to  register  facts  and  to  throw  its  ear- 
liest light  on  the  actions  of  the  human  race  about  the 
time  that  slavery  began  to  take  its  leave.  But  enough  of 
the  slave  system  always  remained  to  cast  its  dark  shad- 
ows upon  life.  There  had,  previously  to  the  historic  rec- 
ord and  ages  before  the  breaking  up  of  slavery,  been  an 
immense  i  an  immeasurable  period  of  time  through  whose 
trackless  swamps  humanity  had  trod ;  for  the  weak,  uncer- 
tain story  of  a  once  happy  reign  of  Neptune,1  we  are  for- 
ced to  ignore  for  want  of  evidence.  When  we  reflect  that 
there  were  freedmen  or  emancipated  slaves  two  thousand 
years  before  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  that 
consequently  the  laboring  classes  have  been  struggling 
for  four  thousand  years,  writhing  out  from  their  slave  fet- 

iPlato  says  (Laws,  iv.  6,  Bekk.,  L.  ed.),  that  a  great  while  before 
cities  were  ever  bnilt,  as  is  told,  and  during  the  reign  of  Saturn,  there  ex- 
isted a  certain  extremely  happy  mode  of  government  to  regulate  the  dwell- 
ing of  men It  had  all  things  unrestrained,  yielding  spontaneously It 

was  governed  by  Daemons  of  a  diviner,  more  perfect  race.  Plutarch  (Jffu- 
ma  Pompilituj,  also  speaks  of  such  a  time  and  states  that  Numa  desired  to 
bring  back  those  happy  days  to  men.  Plutarch  (De  Definitime  Oraculomm 
18,),  also  says  that  Saturn  slept  on  an  island  of  the  blessed.  But  it  was 
in  ancient  Italy,  Cf  Dionysins  of  Halicarnassns,  (Antiquiiata  Romance, 
i.,  34.).  that  the  mythical  Saturn  and  Janus  chained  down  the  god  of  war 
and  close  i  the  temples  against  belligerency  and  want.  The  conclusion,  af- 
ter all  our  research  is,  that  the  whole  story  is  a  myth  based  upon  the  well 
know  i  longings  which  gave  shape  to  thousands  of  Utopias  and  Messiahs. 


48  INDO-EUROPEAN  LABOR. 

ters  without  having  yet  fully  succeeded,  we  may  at  least, 
establish  a  basis  of  conjecture  as  to  the  time  it  required 
for  the  laboring  denizens  of  the  ancient  slave  system  to 
grow  to  a  conception  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  suffi- 
cient to  break  their  first  bonds  Of  the  purely  slave  epoch 
which  preceded  the  art  of  annals  we  have  little  but  con- 
jecture. There  must  have  been  a  comparatively  high  civ- 
ilization at  the  dawn  of  manun  issions,  where  history  and 
archaeology  find  human  society  and  begin  gracefully  to 
transmit  to  us  its  deeds.  An  inconceivable  space  of  time 
must  have  intervened.  Let  us  attempt  to  make  history 
for  the  laboring  classes  from  conjectural  data  in  order 
to  connect  the  link  binding  the  known  with  those  dark 
abysses  of  the  unknown  in  antiquity. 

The  supposed  original  cradle  of  the  Aryan  family  from 
which  comes  the  Caucasian  or  Indo-European  type,  is 
Central  Asia.  Greeks  and  Romans  were  Aryan  Europe- 
ans; Arabs  or  Ishmaelites,  Jews  or  Hebrews,  and  Phoeni- 
qians  belonged  to  the  Semitic  .family.  We  have  already 
seen  that  the  Semitic  races,  especially  the  Jews,  were  us- 
ing a  low  and  very  imperfect  and  unsatisfactory  form  of 
the  co-operative  ideal  in  place  of  the  Pagan  or  purely 
competitive  one,  as  a  basis  upon  which  to  build  their  so- 
ciety and  their  civilization.  The  Aryans,  especially  the 
.Greeks  and  Romans  on  the  contrary,  built  their  society 
and  their  civilization  upon  the  extreme  competitive  idea. 
The  one  ever  was  and  is,  mutual,  interacting,  loving,  char- 
itable, rigidly  reverential  and  non- destructive;  the  other 
fierce,  warlike,  excessively  egoistic,  combative  and  destruc- 
tive. Both  brave,  lofty,  intelligent,  capable  and  suscep- 
tible of  a  higher  development  of  physical  type  and  of 
intellectual  culture  than  any  other  branches  of  the  hu- 
man race.* 

It  appears  from  all  the  evidences  that  the  first  form  of 
society  was  that  of  masters  and  slaves.*  The  extreme 

5  Under  the  ancient  idea,  religion  which  governed  political  as  well  as 
private  habits,  was  exclusively  based  upon  man-worship.  Zens  or  Jupiter 
was  a  man  god.  Damons  or  Lara  were  dead  men,  imagined,  all  through 
Pagan  thncs  to  be  still  influential  for  wood  or  evil.  Cf.  Pausanias,  Descip- 
tio  GYCKUK,  v.  14.  At  Olympla  the  first  two  prayers  were  offered  at  the 
focal  fire,  always  burning  in  honor  of  these  dead  men  and  of  Zeus. 

aGranier  de  Cassagnac,  Histoire  det  Clastet  Ouvritret  el  det  Classes 
Bourgeoises,  Chaps.  Hi.  iv.  V. 


ORIGIN   OF  BONDAGE.  49 

lowliness  of  the  laboring  man's  condition  at  that  remote 
period  can  easily  be  imagined  when  we  consider  that  all 
the  children  of  the  aristocratic  household  except  the  old- 
est son  born  of  the  real  wife  and  legal  mother,  were  to- 
tally unrecognized  by  law.  All  except  this  heir,  were 
originally  slaves.  In  fact  this  was  the  origin  of  slavery. 
The  first  human  law  was,  long  before  being  written,  alarw 
of  entailment  upon  primogeniture.  "When  the  patrician 
or  owner  of  the  property,  which  in  those  times,  mostly 
consisted  of  'ands  died,  the  property  did  not  fall  to  the 
children  or  by  testament,  as  is  now  the  case.  It  fell  to 
the  oldest  male  child.  No  other  person  of  that  house- 
h'  Id  had  any  claim  upon  it.  The  deceased  father  .may 
have  had  many  other  children,  but  these  became  subjects 
to  the  manor ;  and  frequently  they  were  very  numerous.* 

This  eldest  son  and  inheritor  was,  by  usage  of  that, 
day,  obliged  to  bury  his  father  within  the  house,  or  court 
and  worship  him  as  a  god.  The  original  workingman  was 
not  even  a  citizen.5  There  is  no  lack  of  testimony  regard- 
ing this  curions  custom  which  was  really  the  religion 
and  the  rule  or  groundwork  upon  which  stood  the  anci- 
ent competitive  regulation  of  labor.  Let  us  now  trace 
this  new  family  in  order  to  get  at  the  origin  and  perpet- 
uation of  human  slavery. 

Tiiere  being  in  primitive  ages  no  power  as  now  exists, 
b  land  this  new  heir  and  administrator  or  despot  of  lite 
paternity,  he  easily  becomes  an  absolute  lord  or  monarch. 
To  make  this  unjust  ard  wonderful  civilization  appear 
more  comprehensible  and  home-like,  we  may  assume  fa- 
milial- names.  A  rich  farmer,  one  who  has  inherited  his 
property  from  his  father,  dies,  leaving  many  children, 

4  Fustel  de  Coulange,  CM  Antique,  c.  vii.  pp.  76—89  Droit  de  Success- 
ion, (iranier,  Hist.  <ies  Classes  Ouvrieres ,  p.  69:  "Ainei,  nous  ponvow 
dire  niainrcnant  qne  nous  avons  trouve  ies  premiers  enclaves  qui  furent; 
c!  etaient  Ies  enfants."  As  to  the  great  numbers  in  families,  see  Iliad. 
XXiV.  v.  495.  6.  7; 

ITevTijKovTa   not  r^trav,   or"   fi\vdov  ul<?  A'^aiip 
E'l  yea;tai6i*:a   fnev  fioi   irjs    fK    vri&vos  iftrav, 
lovi   aAAof  ?  fiot    eriKTOf  ivl   ft.tya.poiai  yvva.lietf. 

So  also  Plutarch.  Thrseux,  3,  says  ihat  Pallas  bad  50  children.  Gideon 
had  70,  according  to  JoMphlW,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  Book  V.  Chapter  ix. 
Apscn  had  60;  Jair  30  children. 

slJUchcr,  Aufxi untie  tier  unfreirn  Arbeiter,  S.  11.  'Ter  beste  (antike) 
Staat  i-chliesst  die  Arbeiter  vora  Bttrgerrechte  ans;  und  wo  sie  dassclbe  er- 
hallen  konnten,  blieben  sie  tie's  euie  nii-»"htere  nnd  einJ'UBs'osc  iv'aese." 


50  INDO-EUROPEAN  LABOR. 

boys  and  girls.  There  may  be  several  daughters  senior 
to  his  oldest  son.  This  latter,  however,  because  the  first- 
born male,  comes  into  sole  possession  of  the  paternal  es- 
tate. The  girls  are  of  a  sympathetic,  unsuspecting  na- 
ture and  being  also  less  physically  powerful,  they  make 
little  or  no  resistance.  The  boys  are  young;  and  being 
m  this  tender  age  are,  after  a  certain  amount  of  straggle, 
in  shape  of  battles,  with  words  and  other  weapons,  also 
compelled  to  yield.  This  bully  moreover  to  accomplish 
his  purpose,  also  draws  upon  the  superstition  of  the  un- 
fortunate children  and  hides  the  wickedness  of  his  avar- 
ice behind  the  sanctuary  of  religious  rites  over  their  dead 
lather  who  practiced  the  same  cunning,  force  and  craft 
te'ore.  The  bully  thus  originated  the  great  law  of  en- 
tailment  upon  primogeniture,  and  has  never  once  loosen- 
ed his  grip  to  this  day. 

To  resume  our  home-drawn,  practical  illustration  of  the 
origin  of  this  ancient  law  of  usurpation,  it  may  be  said, 
that  not  a  penny  can  possibly  fall  to  one  of  the  many  sis- 
ters and  brothers  thus  cast  out,  although  they  had  con- 
tributed their  labor  toward  the  creation  of  the  estate.  He 
becomes  the  supreme  ruler  over  the  property.  By  vir- 
tue of  the  arrogant  law  of  primogeniture,  ancient  and 
hallowed  as  the  adoration  of  the  vestal  fires,  this  unique 
successor  becomes,  without  formality,  the  monarch.  But 
his  possessorship  is  not  confined  to  the  ownership  of  the 
real  estate  of  the  paternity.  He  also  owns  the  stock  and 
fixtures  thereto  belonging.  Among  the  rest  of  the  stock 
and  fixtures  are  the  brothers  and  sisters;  both  those  who 
are  pure,  or  born  of  his  own  mother  whose  character  and 
chastity,  especially  in  ancient  times,  were  always  beyond 
reproach,  and  also  those  more  numerous  children  other- 
wise born.6  These  all  fall  to  him  also,  as  part  of  the  in- 
heritance !  He  is  monarch  absolute.7  He  has  become  a 
pater  familias;  and  as  such,  has  the  power  of  his  father 
before  him.  No  law  exists  that  can  restrict  his  will. 

« In  ancient  days,  as  shown  in  note  4,  they  were  often  very  numerous 
For  the  law  giving  license  to  concubinage,  see  Gains,    Twelve    Tables. 

i  Dionysius  of  Halcarnassns,  Archosologia   Romano.,    or  Roman  Antiquities, 


THE  ANCIENT  COULD  KILL  HIS  CHILD.       51 

He  cannot  liberate  his  poor  slaves; — for  it  is  an  assum- 
ed episode  in  prehistoric  conditions  that  we  are  describ- 
ing; it  antedates  the  era  of  manumissions,  although  the 
same  wrongs  existed  long  afterwards.  But  he  can  pun- 
ish his  own  slaves — his  brother,  sister  or  his  child,  with 
death.  He  can  sell  them.  He  can  whip  them  and  im- 
pose upon  them  the  most  cruel  of  tortures.  Tiger  or 
lamb  is  his  option. 

His  religion  is  as  aristocratical,  as  brutal  and  exclusive 
as  his  economic  and  social  policy.  Unlike  the  mild  dem- 
ocracy infused  into  the  worship  of  present  civilizations, 
his  religion  cannot  tolerate  even  the  thought  that  all  may 
do  homage  at  a  common  shrine  or  adore  a  common  Fath- 
er. To  allow  this  would  be  to  cancel  the  distinction  be- 
tween master  and  slave.8  The  father  of  this  autocrat, 
buried  under  the  hearthstone,  has  himself  become  the 
only  god  whom  this  man  may  worship.  Thus  every  nerve 
is  active  in  perpetuating,  glorifying  and  rendering  aristo- 
cratic and  lordly  the  prestige  of  his  house.'  The  sacred 
altar  is  his  father's  grave  over  which  is  kept  a  fire  that 
is  never  allowed  to  be  extinguished.10  His  own  father 
thus  becomes  his  tutelary  god  and  guardian,  watching, 
like  a  veritable  spook,  with  a  jealous  eye  over  his  inter- 
ests. Should  this  sacred  fire  be  extinguished,  the  acci- 
dent is  punished  with  an  ignominious  death.11  This  par- 
ent-god, like  the  man  when  walking  on  this  earth,  is  be- 
lieved to  be  subject  to  hunger  and  thirst.  He  must  con- 
sequently be  fed  with  actual  food ;  with  bread  and  wine, 
butter,  honey  and  the  purest  delicacies  of  the  table.  If 
this  be  neglected,  the  propitious  smiles  and  favors  which 

8  Fustel  de  Coulanges,  Cite  Antique,  chap.  iv.  p.  33.  Here  this  student 
erplains  the  Pagan  mode  of  sacrifice,  including  the  whimsical  old  su- 
perstition of  the  Lares,  or  the  remains  of  said  parent  after  burial,  to 
which  this  living  heir  gave  offerings  of  food,  such  as  milk,  clarified 
butter,  wine  ect. 

9 In  Greek,  this  altar  was  called  Bu^ot  and  'f.erria;  in  Latin,  Ara, 
.Focus— the  focus  of  all  thoughts,  prayer,  moral  concern;  the  shrine. 

10 This  statement  is  not  absolutely  exact:  for  the  fir«s  were,  on.  cer- 
tain rare  occasions,  renovated.  See  Fustel,  Cite  Antique,  p.  23,  Feu  sacre. 

11  Centurie-i  afterwards,  when  there  bad  become  many  such  aristocratic 
houses,  such  masters  as  were  friend'y  wi;h  each  other,  found  it  necessary  for 
mutual  protertior  largely  from  the  wrath  of  these  vt-ry  outcasts,  to  form 
a  city  of  aristocra'ic  houses.  A  central  city-altar  or  focus  was  adopted, 
a  central  city-fire  kindled  and  a  Vigil  or  maiden  watcher  was  stationed, 
to  keep  its  fires  plowing  forevor.  Punishment  of  a  most  horrible  death  was 
i.jfiirted  upon  her  for  letting  these  sacred  fires  die  out. 


52  INDO-EUROPEAN  LABOR. 

prayer  invokes,  are  turned,  by  the  slighted  and  angry- 
ghost  against  the  perpetrators  of  the  "negligence  Tho 
law  of  agnation  or  descent  in  the  male  line,  rules  severe- 
ly in  this  family;  and  consequently  the  female  portions 
of  it  are  the  especial  objects  of  the  master's  power.  The 
lord  himself  being  supreme,  may  commit  acts  of  libertin- 
ism such  as  would  consign  others  to  the  punishment  of 
death.  Should  his  wife,  the  mater  fj.milias,  vary  from 
the  rules  of  family  regularity,  it  would  place  in  doubt 
the  descent  of  the  paternity.  It  would  cause  it  to  be- 
come a  question  whether  her  first-born  son,  the  inheritor, 
were  really  his  own  and  of  the  pure  blood — the  agnate. 
Should  the  deception  be  so  veiled  as  to  escape  the  mas- 
ter's knowledge,  there  yet  remains  a  still  more  terrible 
source  of  disclosure.  The  buried  gods  themselves,  om- 
nipotent and  omniscient,  jealous  and  disturbed,  feeling  the 
dignity  of  their  noble  line  defili  d,12  their  august  preroga- 
tives encroached  upon  by  a  pretender  who  might  in  turn 
at  death,  usurp  the  beatitudes  of  the  penates™  and  tho 
holy  altar,  are  aroused.  Conscience  in  the  guilty  mother 
becomes  too  galling  to  permit  of  life's  longer  endurance 
and  death  must  be  the  consequence  after  the  confession, 
and  the  error  rectified  by  the  destruction  of  the  intruder. 
Here  is  the  key  to  that  extraordinary  tenacity  of  ancient 
ladies  in  wedlock  with  the  noble  or  gens  families,  to  vir- 
tue.14 The  Lares,  or  redoubtable  ghosts,  are,  as  we  no-,v 
begin  to  understand,  charged  with  the  office  of  chasti/in^ 
such  criminals  ;  also  of  watching  all  the  thoughts,  words 
and  deeds  going  on  in  the  sacred  penetralia — penates — of 
the  living  lord's  household.  So  egotistical  and  selfish  is 
this  religious  culture  that  none  but  the  family  can  pray 
at  that  altar  and  no  one  can  be  prayed  for  except  mem- 
bers who  have  been  in  high  standing.  A  thing  so  degrad- 
ed as  a  being  compelled  to  subsist  by  labor  has  no  place 
there,  no  family,  no  shrine.  Family  initiation  made  it  worse. 
But  we  have  only  entered  upon  the  description  of  this 
despot.  His  most  revolting  attributes  are  yet  to  be  put 
into  history.  All  the  creatures  of  his  household,  -with 

u  From  this  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  blood-distinctions  still  boasted 
Df  and  t  -naciously  cultivated ;  :n  dynasties,  as  divine  right :  in  families,  as  pres- 
ige  Tho  horror  against  tnis  sin  was  inexpressible;  and  a  liason  with  ona 
of  the  outcasts  rendered  tho  crime  trebly  henious. 

u  See  Livy's    Lay  of  Lucretia.  n  Plutarch,     Qtuzstiona  Romance,   Cl. 


ORIGIN  OF  PRIESTCRAFT.  63 

the  exception  of  the  noble  mother  and  her  first-born  male 
child,  are  slaves.15  They  may  be,  as  we  have  said,  broth- 
ers and  sisters,  or  even  children  born  to  amorous  coercion16 
of  this  thus  privileged  despot ;  yet  (hey  have  no  claim  to 
anything  but  his  sympathies.  Having  no  legalized  rights 
they  are  meni;ils;  left  without  education  they  become 
sycophantic  and  unmanly.  Their  food  is  coarse.  Only 
the  lord  and  lady  of  the  house  arc  entitled  to  wheat  bread. 
They  are  glad  to  get  peas  and  second-rate  bread.17  Should 
too  many  infants  be  bom,  a  council  is  called  and  it  is  de- 
liberated whether  the  little  innocents  shall  be  saved  or 
killed ls  The  children  being  slaves,  are  not  supposed  to 
be  supplied  with  a  thing  so  dignifying  as  a  soul.19  The 
most  abject  superstition  reigns.  For  a  slave  or  a  strang- 
er to  enter  the  ap  rtments  of  this  lord,  is  an  offense,  impi- 
ous and  unpardonable.  The  lord's  own  parents  and  an- 
cestors before  them  for  generations  back,  are  buried  un- 
der this  enclosure  soul  and  body;  and  their  jealous  manes 
or  ghosts,20  are  believed  to  be  omnipresent  and  on  guard, 
with  power  to  repel  or  punish  the  sacrilege.  The  man- 
or house  is  situated  within  the  holy  court.  The  common 
slaves  and  the  children  constituting  the  true  laboring  ele- 
ment, are  taught  the  most  extreme  reverence.  Should 
they  violate  any  of  the  rigorous  rules  they  are  subject  to 
punishment;  if  the  lord  of  the  manor  wills  it,  with  death. 
Thus  deep  superstition,  hard,  iinpnid  labor,  hard  fare  and 
degradation  are  enforced  by  the  cunning  wiles  of  priest- 
craft ;  for  love  of  profits  from  labor  seems  to  originate  or 
urge  ancient  priest-power.  This  superstition  is  the  more 
necessarily  rigorous,  since  lack  of  faith  is  known  to  be 
dangerous,  leading  to  sedition  and  rebellion. 

i"'  Fustel  de  Coulanees,  Cite  Antimie,  T.  c.  i.-iv.  Antiques  Croyances.  From 
these  phenomena  of  the  ancient  fainilv  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  the  belief 
in  ghosts,  spooks,  spectres,  haunted  abode*  etc.:  idem,  pp.  127-30 

i«  Hnraich,  ,SV</»,  xiii  i"  Horace,  Epistolce,  lib.  Jl.  Kpist.  i.  v.  123  ; 

"Vivit  siiKiuif  t-t  p:!i;c  se^undo  ''  Poor  fare  for  labor  continued  late.  Of 
course,  where  much  harmony  and  love  existed  the  despot  could  b  •  penerous. 

i>  This  practice  heid  good  aui'.iiij  the  Dorians  even  after  Greeks  began 
t«  acquire  the  art  of  making  historical  records.  See  Plutarch,  Lycurgus,  xvi. 

w  Homer,  Oil>ixsf>i,  lib.  XVII.  'i  he  passage  here  alluded  to  refers  to  a 
comparatively  enlightened  puriol.  As  late  as  Plato,  when  emancipations 
and  resistance  had  created  a  middle  class,  it  was  doubted  whether  working- 
people  had  all  of  the  attributes  recognized  in  true  members  of  the  human 
family.  Of.  Plato,  fop.  vi.  9;  Ixxi  Laws,  vi  ;  Homer,  Odyssey,  xvii.  332. 
Plato  wanted  slaves  and  believed  in  the  inferiority  of  all  laborers 

20  Cicero,  Pro  Domo  ;  Tusnilanarum  D input  itininim  Liliri,  I.  16;  "Sub  terra 
cense1  ant  le'iquiam  vitam  a^i  mortuorum."  Kuri.  i  !es,  Alceslis,  163;  Hecuba. 


54  INDO-EUROPEAN  LABOR. 

The  lord  of  the  estate  permits  of  no  social  or  religious 
mixtures  with  other  people  or  other  estates.  There  are  no 
tenants,  no  neighbors,  and  consequently  few  sociabilities. 
Egoism  is  so  severe  that  little  of  the  kind  can  be  tolerated. 
It  is  master  and  slave;  no  intermediaries.  Communities 
are  unknown.  Promiscuity  which  makes  the  village,21  the 
community,  the  social  gathering,  the  free  sports  of  chil- 
dren and  general  merriment  are  interdicted  by  this  pro 
found  solemnity  based  upon  an  adoration  of,  and  implici- 
obedience  in  one  central  ruler;  a  man  who  is  the  inherit- 
or; who,  by  virtue  of  this  inheritance  giving  him  power, 
and  of  this  egoism  giving  him  will,  assumes,  as  through 
the  countless  ages  his  ancestors  assumed,  to  be  the  sole 
owner  in  life,  and  the  immortal  to  be  worshiped,  caressed, 
entreated,  propitiated,  glorified,  after  death  ! 22 

We  have  thus  described,  as  if  actually  existing  among 
us  at  present,  a  scene  whose  stage  was  once  this  earth;23 
whose  unhappy  actors  were  workingmen  and  women  and 
whose  managers  were  then  as  now,  the  captalists;  a  scene 
which  mankind,  grace  to  an  eternal  resistance,  in  turmoils, 
servile  wars,  and  innumerable  social  communes,  has  largely 
outgrown.  It  is  a  scene  which  no  civilized  society  could 
at  present  tolerate.  Yet  it  was  the  almost  all-prevailing  one 
among  mankind  of  the  distant  past  in  Greece  and  Italy. 

Lordship,  therefore,  was  the  very  first  condition  in  the 
establishment  of  society ;  slavery  its  antithesis,  the  sec- 
ond. Of  the  middle  class  occupying  the  great  gap  wide- 
ly separating  the  lord  from  the  slave  there  was  none. 


entrance  of  the  house.  The  Romans  had  it  differently,  though  essentially  the 
same.  The  focus  remained,  ns  in  Gree<  e,  in  the  center  of  the  enclosure,  but  the 
build  ings  were  placed  around  it  leaving  an  inner  court ;  the  walls  of  the  houses 
rising  around  it  on  all  sides.  The  Greeks  used  to  pay  that  religion  taught  them- 
how  to  build  houses.  Fustel  de  Coulanges,  Citi  Antique,  pp.  62—85. 

22  In  Greek  the  ivria  Stvirotva,  in  Latin  the  Larfamiliaris,  were  key-words 
of  the  ancient  pagan  family.  Etymologically  this  is  the  origin  of  the  term  despot. 

-3  We  have  not  space  to  make  copious  quotations  from  the  numerous  au- 
thors who8e  descriptions  and  hints  we  have  ransacked  in  search  of  the  proof 
of  this  condition  of  ancient  affairs :  but  recommend  the  doubtful  to  the  foll<  wing 
commentators  and  original  writers:  Granier  de  Csssr gnac,  Histoire  des  Classes 
Ouvritres  <£c.  Chapters  ui.  iv .  v.  De  Coulanges,  Cite  Antique,  pasfim;  to  the  po- 
emt  of  Homer;  to  almost  any  of  the  voluminous  works  of  Cicero  ;  to  the  Ora- 
tiont  of  Demosthenes;  to  Orelli's  Inscriptionum  Colleclio  ;  to  Bockh's  Corpttt  In- 
tcriptionum  Groxarum  ;  to  Euripides,  Akestis  and  especially  Hecuba,  pasfim;  to 
Plato's  Creatiom,  Protag.  30-4,  Thecet.  30-2,  Rsp.  21 ;  to  IJausanias.  Descriptio  Grat- 
cuz;  to  Macrobius,  Somnium  Scipionis  &  Satumaliorum  Libri  and  many  others. 


ON  THE    ORIGINAL  STRIKE.  55 

That  came  later.  For  fully  six  thousand  years  it  has  be  en 
growing  more  and  more  numerous  until  in  the  nineteenth 
century  it  may  be  said  to  have  almost  filled  the  great  cav- 
ity and  is  now  pressing  in  all  directions  to  force  the  ex- 
tinction of  both  those  aged  originals. 

Theoretically,  this  middle  or  intermediary  class  betwixt 
lord  and  menial,  owner  and  outcast,  immortal  and  perish- 
able, is  perfect;  occupying  the  ambrosial  vales  of  Utopia 
where  men  are  no  longer  struggling  for  existence  against 
despotism,  ignorance  and  death.  In  theory  we  should  sup- 
pose it  an  altruistic  state  in  which  men  looking  upward  to 
wisdom  and  mutual  love,  and  backward  to  past  ignorance 
and  competitive  greed  and  hatreds,  would  erect  their  so- 
ciety and  their  government  upon  a  plan  wherein  neither 
lords  nor  menials  could  have  law  or  footlold.  Such  would 
be  the  revolution  realized — the  revolution  that  began  with 
manumissions.  But  practically — although  many  are  dream- 
ing of  this  ultimatum — we  are  far  from  it.  Lords  still 
exist  though  with  milder  domination  and  slaves  yet  remain 
though  on  a  higher  plain. 

M.  de  Laveleye  informs  us  that  communities  held  lands 
in  common  for  the  people  in  times  past24  and  cites  an 
abundance  of  instances  in  proof;  but  while  this  may  all  be 
true,  it  is  none  the  less  true  th:it  the  original  condition  was 
that  of  masters  and  slaves.  Particularly  was  this  the  case 
with  the  people  from  whose  records  we  extract  these  data 
— the  Aryan  race.  It  is  the  perfectly  natural  condition, 
explainable  in  the  theory  of  development.  In  the  Aryan, 
especially  its  Indo-European  type,  we  see  the  original  the- 
ory of  development  verified ;  and  it  comes  to  us  from  pre- 
historic data  which  philology,  archaeology  and  reason  har- 
moniously combine  to  verify.  What  would  man,  primi- 
tively a  wild  animal,  naturally  do?  Would  he  not  be  just 
like  nil  animals  ?  It  wants  only  the  observation  of  an  hour 
to  note  that  a  group  of  barnyard  fowls,  soon  after  being 
put  into  a  ynrd  begin  fighting  for  mastery  or  lordship; 
and  this  conflict  will  not  stop  until  the  strongest,  cle\er- 
est  chanticleer  has  mastered  every  adAersary.  This  also 

24  re  Laveleye,  Primitve  Property,  pp.  137.  In  attempting  to  prove  these  no- 
tions ahout  primitive  property,  this  author  is  confronted  at  the  outset,  with  tlia 
fact  that  he  is  seeking  to  rebut  the  principle  of  development ;  his  village  com- 
munities are  a  late,  not  a  "primitive"  condition. 


5/3  IND  0-  EUROPE  A  N  LABOR. 

nanst  be  said  of  a  herd  of  cattle  grazing  on  a  common. 
The  strongest  steer,  after  a  full  test  of  its  muscular 
forces,  becomes  master  of  the  flock  and  remains  so. 
With  perfect  truth  it  might  be  further  remarked  that 
should  no  individual  of  the  herd  be  of  the  male  gender, 
the  contest  for  mastery  will  be  between  the  heifers  ;  thus 
seeming  to  prove  the  principle  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
without  any  reference  to  the  instinct  of  perpetuation  of 
species.  Even  plants,  in  their  struggle  for  existence  are 
constantly  in  the  competitive  field,  warring  with  each 
other — the  tares  rooting  out  the  wheat — until  the  hand 
of  the  reasoning  cultivator  lays  low  the  obnoxious  weeds. 
Thus  it  is  shown  that  the  principle  of  individual  ascend- 
ency with  its  acknowledgement,  is  the  original  and  nat- 
ural one.  It  is  the  quiritare  dominium.  The  law  of  nat- 
ural selections  and  survival  of  the  fittest  applies  without 
thu  aid  of  reason.  Naturalists  who  have  lavished  givat 
care  and  honest  pains  in  search  of  proof  of  this  philosophy 
in  plants,  animals  and  men,25  have  scarcely  brought  their  in- 
vestigations to  bear  upon  that  new,  almost  supernal  power 
of  reason,  which  some  admit  to  have  come  later,  as  a  re- 
sult of  evolution. 

If  we  are  allowed  to  tread  the  penetralia  of  this  philos- 
ophy with  the  eye  and  ear  of  a  critic  we  shall  find  in  the 
law  of  natural  selections  the  bed  rock  of  brute  competi- 
tion. While  beholding  this  with  the  conviction  of  its 
truth  and  forced  to  admit  it  as  the  fiat  of  growth,  we 
shall  see  that  it  rests  upon  the  toppling  trestles  of  brute 
force.  We  shall  find  that  the  superstructure  resting 
upon  these  abutments  is  time-worn  and  rotton.  Its  spans 
are  becoming  unsafe;  its  planking  hoof -worn;  its  string- 
ers sway  with  the  winds  of  newer  things  and  we  find  our- 
selves dizzy  peering  into  the  angry  foam  of  progress  be- 
low. As  long  as  there  are  only  masters  and  slaves  the 
strongest  brutes  maiy  survive;  but  when  the  new  idea  of 
manumission  arrived  which  was  forced  upon  the  masters 
by  the  growth  of  population,  the  survival  of  the  fittest 
changed  hands.  If  we  accept  the  doctrine  of  natural 

2r.  We  here  incorrectly  place  man  above  animals  in  defference  to  the  egoism 
he  hag  not  outgrown.  Especially  is  man  to  be  considered  and  classed  among 
animals  under  the  philosophy  of  the  fittest,  since  this  very  survival  is  mostly 
thu  result  of  the  competitive  struggle,  akin  to  brute  force  and  autedati  'g  the 
milder  forces  of  reason. 


ORIGIN  OF  HUMAN  SYMPATHY.  57 

selection  based  upon  brute  force  we  accept  the  survival  of 
the  fittest  as  its  corollary.  So  long  as  the  doctri-ie  is  so 
based  it  remains  undeniably  true.  Reason  is  not  there. 

But  with  the  advent  of  reason  there  came  also  sym- 
pathy, civilization,  enlightenment;  and  these  have  already 
so  filled  the  world  with  mutual  or  altruistic  sentiment  that 
the  working  classes  of  both  Kurope  and  America  are  now 
combining  with  a  determination  to  drive  from  the  world 
the  whole  brute  force  upon  which  the  old  theory  is  based. 
Tuey  will  not  longer  hear  to  the  competitive  principle 
•which  holJs  up  the  shrewdest  and  strongest  as  fittest  to 
survive.  They  demand  the  extinction  of  competitor^ 
force  and  insist  upon  equal  opportunities  for  co-operation 
such  as  will  result  in  the  survival  of  ah1.  They  are  thus 
ushering  in  the  era  of  reason.  In  disenthralling  their 
species  from  the  competitive  system  of  the  isolated  in- 
dividual and  establishing  them  on  the  co-operative  or  al- 
truistic system  they  procure  the  revolution.  They  usher 
in  the  era  of  the  survival  of  all  and  banish  from  the  world 
the  culture  of  darlings,  the  reign  of  partiality,  the  pres- 
tige of  masters  and  the  servility  of  slaves.  But  as  force 
lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  law  of  natural  selections  and  the 
survival  of  the  fittest,  so  reason,  its  moral  antithesis,  must 
be  the  bottom  rock  upon  which  the  new  mutualism  is 
founded. 

We  cannot  leave  this  theoretical  dissertation  without 
some  reflections  upon  the  ghastly  immorality  and  the  re- 
turn to  insatiate  selfishness  which  this  new  philosophy  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  inculcates;  and  must  submit 
that  it  not  only  logically  inculcates  an  arid  dreariness  of 
words,  but  has  already  produced  and  is  producing  wither- 
ing and  demoralizing  effects.  We  shall  submit  that  the 
religion  of  Jesus,  planted  by  a  manual  laborer  and  form- 
ing the  basis  of  hope  upon  which  stands  the  great  labor 
movement  of  our  own  time  has  been  severely  attacked, 
stamped  as  a  calamity  and  trodden  under  foot,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  this  plan  of  faith  has  been  the  power 
that  openly  struck  the  first  well  organized  blow  at  the 
system  of  masters  and  slaves  and  boldly  championed  it 
as  a  principle ;  and  in  essence  it  has  never  since  shrunk 
from  its  prodigious  task  toward  realizing  the  much  con- 
tested doctrine  of  human  equal*. ^ . 


53  1ND  0-EUR  OPE  AN  LABOR. 

Viewed  from  a  standpoint  of  mere  comparative  strength 
of  organized  muscle  and  brain,  or  of  the  low  cunning  and 
prowess  which  wrench  from  the  weak  and  unwary  what 
they  do  not  contribute  to  produce,  this  theory  of  survival 
is  undeniably  logical.  But  these  forces  are  the  old,  orig- 
inal ones  and  strictly  belong  to  a  period  prior  to  the  ad- 
vent of  a  society  enlightened  and  refined  by  reason.  They 
are  animal  and  are  of  the  ages  of  bullies  and  of  clubs. 
Why  we  confront  such  theorists  is  that  this  philosophy 
does  not  keep  march  with  the  very  power  that  gives  them- 
insight  into  it — reason.  The  original  state  was  egotist- 
ical, with  brutal  force — forcible  possession.  The  next  was 
arbitration,  discussion,  conciliation — all  the  struggles  of 
reason.  The  former  occupied  an  immense,  unmeasured 
period  of  time,  the  latter  has  also  had  its  vista  of  tedious, 
unhappy  ages ;  for  since  the  first  glimmerings  of  history 
and  archaeology  it  has  numbered  between  four  and  five 
thousand  years  and  its  milennium  is  still  far  away.  It  is 
the  transition  period ;  the  passage  from  pure  brute  force 
and  labor  ordered  by  masters  and  performed  by  slaves 
with  survival  of  the  fittest,  to  the  pure  era  of  reason,  mut- 
ual love  and  mutual  care,  with  the  survival  of  all.  Sucii 
is  the  revolution. 

Whoever,  therefore,  at  this  enlightened  day,  forgetting 
his  reason,  the  very  weapon  he  wields  with  Which  to  grasp 
his  inspirations,  allows  this  aged  original,  because  it  is 
yet  true  of  the  beast  or  the  plant,  to  usurp  the  domain  of 
reason  self -won  in  the  straggle  of  ages,26  returns  to  the 
dogma  that  because  the  survival  of  the  fittest  has  been 
true  of  snarling  beasts,  of  the  plants  and  of  the  club-and- 
weapon  age  of  men,  it  is  also  true  of  men  in  a  state  of  rea- 
son and  refinement,  is  going  backward  dragging  reason 
with  him  into  the  caves  of  the  troglodyte. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  moral  effect  upon  the  mind,  of 
persons  ill  search  of  wealth  and  other  means  of  happiness 
natural  to  our  lot  in  the  competitive  world.  A  student  of 
evolution  is  constrained  by  perusing  the  pages  of  Lucre - 

2« Mr.  Darwin,  a  thoughtful  and  thoroughly  careful  writer  refrained  from 
pushing  his  argnn-eat  on  ttii-  subject  farther  than  it  applies  to  energy  without 
reason.  A  careful  student  of  Darwin  will  perceive  that  he  always  uses  the  low- 
er order  of  life  as  proof;  such  as  plants,  bir  Is.  fishes,  and  the  other  animals.  He 
p.lings  to  this,  not  venturing  i  to  the  domiin  of  tne  reasoning  power,  which  is 
»lone  capable  to  grasp  the  labor  problem. 


ANNIHILATION   OF  CONSCIENCE.  59 

tius,  Vogt,  Spencer,  Darwin  and  others,  to  view  man  as  a 
creature  without  an  immortal  soul.  Through  the  doctrine 
of  development  as  explained  by  D.arwin,  men  are  taught 
to  understand  this  perishability  merely  as  a  logical  corol- 
lary of  the  premise  itself.27  The  theory  carries  with  it 
the  irrepressible  deduction  that  if  man  has  an  immortal 
soul  he  has,  himself,  been  the  maker  of  it.  The  theory 
from  the  first,  assumes  that  he  is  a  creature  grown  from  a 
long  line  of  consequents,  each  an  effect  of  causes  natural 
to  this  world.  This  is  evolution.  It  holds  that  motion 
and  heat  acting  upon  the  material  spread  out  upon  this 
earth  will  of  themselves,  generate  life ;  and  that  from 
cells  or  matrices  of  slime  it  calls  protoplasm — the  assumed 
earliest  forms  of  life — come  shape,  growth  and  variety, 
some  of  which  in  time  have  reached  as  high  a  develop- 
ment as  reasoning  men.  Nor  are  these  ideas  confined  to, 
or  the  work  of,  the  benighted  and  superstitious.  They 
are  gaming  ground  among  the  most  thoroughly  respect- 
able and  learned  ;  so  much  so  that  it  is  already  danger- 
ous for  the  followers  of  the  old  belief  upheld  by  Plato  and 
Moses,  to  criticize  or  compare  arguments  against  the 
ponderous  weight  and  increasing  multiplicity  of  proof  in 
its  support.  So  irrefutable  is  the  evidence  which  our  in- 
defatigable diggers  in  science  have  accumlated,  that  from 
the  timorous  hspings  of  a  few  years  ago  it  has  become 
a  creed  for  the  army  of  science ;  and  is  claimed  by  nat- 
uralists, by  comparative  philologists  and  historiographers, 
by  archaeologists  and  others  in  the  field  of  ethnical  re- 
search, to  be  the  key  of  the  new  discovery. 

What  then  can  science  do  for  the  immortal  soul  ?  Man, 
certainly,  away  back  in  that  night  of  time  of  which  we 
are  going  to  write  a  history,  while  yet  an  aminal  and  brute, 
a  homo  troglodyticus,  not  yet  knowing  how  to  build  a  fire 
or  hardly  to  wield  a  club,  could  not  have  possessed  so 
noble  and  highly  developed  a  thing  as  an  immortal  soul ! 
Or  if  we  can  conceive  this  to  be  possible,  what  shall  we 
think  of  him  during  the  still  eaz-lier  cycles  of  his  existence 
in  forms  yet  cruder  and  more  remote  ?  Further  than  this 

«'Tn  tnakin?  thefe  reflections  we  do  not  set  np  a  disclaimer  against  the  the- 
ory of  development.  The  object  is  to  show  the  pernicious  effect  upon  the  mind 
of  masses,  should  this  theory  become  universally  acknowledged,  and  taught, 
before  the  competitive  system  :s  superseded  by  the  co-operative  or  socialistic. 


UO  IXDO-EUROPEAN  LABOR. 

we  may  in  our  play  of  fane-}'  measure  him  at  the  dawn  of 
his  development  of  reason,  which  is  a  faculty  higher  but 
less  unerring  than  instinct.  Eeason  is  a  gift  which  must 
be  guided  by  social  laws.  Not  having  these,  man  must 
have  been  a  maniac  ;  either  thus,  or  he  preserved  enough 
of  instinct  to  guide  reason.  The  reason  of  a  madman 
tui'ns  to  cunning.28  Cunning,  we  are  told,  is  the  weapon 
th;'s  ferocious,  selfish,  competing,  primeval  being  first 
used  to  work  his  title  clear  to  the  realms  et'  immortality ! 
Thus  in  reading  rare  records  of  the  ancient  lowly  we 
cannot  be  too  thoughtful  or  too  careful  when  contemplat- 
ing the  subject  of  immortality.  Though  old  in  life's 
ephemeral  spun,  the  human  race  is  still  in  the  dawn  of  its 
day  ;  and  the  sun  has  yet  to  rise  higher  and  illume  many 
a  still  dark  chasm  of  onr  belief.  The  great  aphorism  of 
Lucretius: 

"Proinde  liret  quotvis  vlvjnlo  cond^re  ssecla: 
Mora  SBlerna  ta.nen  nilo  minus  i..a  rnanebit,"  29 

though  it  has  been  parried  and  fought  in  darkness,  is  like 
that  Proud  ion : — "  Lapropriete  c'est  le  vol,"  still  respect- 
able ;  and  so  long  as  our  standard  cyclopadias  speak  of 
the  Rerum  Natura  of  Lucretius  as  the  "  greatest  of  didactic 
poems"  30  even  now,  when  the  grand  sun  of  man's  morning 
of  life  has  lit  up  all  the  grottoes  but  that  of  fate  and  ren- 
dered radiant  many  a  dark  belief,  just  so  long  is  it  wisest 
in  us  to  withdraw  cavil,  polemic  and  concern  from  a  post 
mortem  future  and  throw  our  whole  religion  into  practical 
doings  for  the  improvement  of  ourselves  upon  the  mortal 
stage.  But  most  especially  are  these  words  wise  counsel 
to  all  engaged  in  a  study  of  the  labor  problem. 

Such  is  this  wonderful  man,  says  the  theorist,  developed 
from  a  protoplasm  of  slimy  earth.  Then  up  to  this  stage 
he 'was  without  a  soul — an  animal.  He  further  developed 
to  the  stage  of  reason — mind.  Cunning  must  then  have 
secured  foi  him  the  boon  of  an  immortal  soul;  a  thing 

2s  Plato,  Laws,  vii.  14.  "The  boy,  without  being  fitted  by  education,  be- 
romes  crufty  ami  cunning  and  of  all  wild  beasts  the  most  insolent."  Plato 
knew  the  fierce  nature  of  men  and  his  seventh  book  of  laws  is  a  thoughtful  code 
of  precepts  for  equalising  habits  among  the  people,  and  punishing  with  means 
in  use  for  doing  so.  Plato  even  doubts  the  possibility  of  a  soul  in  such  wild 
creatures. 

29  Lucretius,  De  Rerum  Natura,  lib.  III.  1088-9. 

••"American  Cyclopedia,  vol.  X.  p.  717,  ed.  of  1867. 


THE    PHILOSOPHY   OF  SURVIVAL.  61 

•which *most  people  agree  in  believing  that  the  reasonless 
animals  do  not  possess ! 

This  sort  of  speculation  may  appear  quite  innocent,  even 
popular;  for  such  is  the  freedom  of  thought  in  these  days 
that  men  delight  in  catching  at  the  gossamers  of  skepti- 
cism. Where  the  danger  to  the  moral  sense  arises  on  this 
new  philosophy,  is  in  the  fact  that  the  revolution  is  not 
yet  realized.  The  world  is  still  iii  its  competitive  stage. 
Man  is  still  combating  with  hfe  blind  egoism  in  the  strug- 
gle for  existence,  It  is  not  altruism  or  mutual  love  and 
care  that  governs  his  career.  He  is  yet  fighting  against 
odds  for  survival :  and  if  his  fitness  to  win  the  means  of 
life  prove  insufficient  he  does  not  survive,  but  perishts. 
Knowing  this,  he  is  too  ready  to  apply  his  reason  in  t!  e 
direction  cf  selfishly  actuate  d  cunning,  and  thus  wring  cut 
a  living  recklessly.  One  thing  however,  has  always  barred 
him  from  the  exercise  of  dishonest  cunning.  It  is  con- 
science. From  the  earliest  data  we  find  man  building 
upon  conscience  as  the  foundation  of  ethics.  As  we  have 
shown,  it  began  with  the  mother's  virtue.  True,  it  was 
absurdly  imaginative,  figuring  the  rage  of  the  lar  famili- 
ar is  in  case  that  weird  omnipotent  was  offended  by  an 
evil  deed  of  the  living.  Thus  to  commit  an  evil  deed 
used  to  cause  conscience  to  fill  the  imaginations  of  men 
with  horrid  appearances  rising  from  the  grave.  Goblins 
and  spectres  of  a  thousand  shapes.  Elfins  and  haunting 
terrors  appeared.  Conscience  was  thus  the  origin  of 
gl  osts.  Conscience,  even  under  the  most  aristocratic  and 
tyrannical  religion,  held  base  actions  in  check.  Under  the 
prevailing  religions  of  the  world  conscience  at  this  day 
holds  evil  doing  in  check.  Ethics  is  now,  as  in  ancient 
times,  based  upon  conscience.  All  laws  are  largely  the 
outcome  of  it.  It  is  the  inner  counselor  of  outward 
actions  and  conscience  of  the  individual  must  never  give 
up  its  scepter  so  long  as  the  competitive,  egotistical  state 
dominai  s.  When  the  revolution  1  as  been  accomplished, 
when  society  shall  have  arranged  the  getting  of  the  means 
of  life  ou  the  mutual  or  co-operative  plan,  when  it  shall  no 
longer  be  the  survival  of  the  fittest  but  the  survival  of  all, 
when  it  no  longer  becomes  necessary  to  fight  in  the  cruel, 
dreary  old  field  of  competition  at  L  the  stniggle  for  exis- 
tence ceases,  then  we  may  find  some  vague  grounds  foi 


62  INDO-EUROPEAN  LABOR. 

imagining  ourselves  no  longer  compelled  to  apply  the  check 
of  conscience;  since  wrong  doing  will  have  lost  its  incen- 
tive. 

But  now,  in  the  height  or  the  great  competitive  struggle 
when  working  people,  goaded  at  the  sight  of  their  own 
labor  products  falling  into  the  rapacious  hands  of  monop- 
olies, are  again  on  the  rally  and  are  forming  the  most  com- 
pact and  extensive  organizations  that  have  yet  existed; 
just  at  this  moment  when  the  restraining  counsels  of  con- 
science are  most  needed  to  check  and  withhold  what  else 
may  become  rnobocracy,  with  results  more  furious  and 
sanguinary  than  the  deeds  of  Eunus  and  Cleon  or  of 
Spartacus  and  Crixius  which  we  are  going  to  relate,  and 
at  the  very  moment  the  moral  world  seems  riven  and 
quails  before  the  swelling  legions  of  aggrieved  labor  or- 
ganizing in  the  struggle  for  existence  with  the  multifold 
weapons  of  an  advanced  enlightenment  at  their  command, 
what  do  we  see  ? 

A  new  thing  in  the  world.  A  stranger  in  form  of  a  phi- 
losophy which  deniesthe  immortality  of  the  soul  A  codex 
which  seeks  its  precedents  back  of  religion  or  law,  beckon- 
ing into  the  world  a  totally  new  scheme  of  dialectics.  In 
denying  the  old  belief  in  immortality  it  stamps  the  ancient 
conscience ; 81  for  what  further  use  has  ethics  or  morality 
for  conscience,  after  the  cherished  hope  of  earning  some 
longed-for  compensation  in  the  hereafter,  has  been  lost  ? 

The  only  conscience  left  to  man  would  be  that  based  on 
cunning!  This  invites  him  back  to  the  law  of  Lycurgus, 
which  made  stealing  a  virtue  but  being  caught,  a  crime. 
Conscience  the  foundation  rock  of  religion,  ancient  and 
modern,  is  ground  to  powder  by  this  new  giant  philoso- 
phy32 whose  arguments  seem  fortified  by  the  chemist,  the 
archaeologist,  the  comparative  philologist,  the  palaeonto- 
logist, the  geologist  and  all  naturalists  now  devoting  them- 
selves to  labors  which  are  to  prepare  for  a  study  of  ethni- 

31  We  refer  mostly  to  that  moral  side  of  conscience  which  has  hitherto  so 
powerfully  actuated  and  restrained  men  by  force  of  belief  in  awards  and  pun- 
ishment*. 

32  Arn'obin?  was  in  great  doubt  on  the  question  of  immortality.    I.ncre'ius, 
author  of  the  celebrated  didactic  poem  on  nature,  believed  that  the"  soul  perishes 
with  the  body.     Aristotle,  now  known  as  the  greatest  o'  teachers,  could  never 
promise  anything  to  those  inquiring  of  him  on  the  problem  of  immortality. 
Darwin  was  equally  silent  on  the  subject. 


RELIGION  A    HANDMAID    OF  CONSCIENCE.    63 

•cal  science.  The  boldest  of  these  claim,  as  we  have  shown, 
that  when  in  the  long  course  of  evolution,  man,  then  a 
brute  but  with  a  stature  more  erect  and  a  cranial  organism 
more  capacious  than  other  creatures  with  which  the  for- 
est teemed,  began  to  experience  the  first  scintillations  of 
reason,  he  exercised  this  new  and  growing  gift  for  his  own 
advantage  and  to  secure  his  own  personal  survival ;  sacri- 
ficing all  others  for  himself  through  prowess  and  strategem 
or  cunning.  Conscience  came  later  and  established  ethics 
which  has  developed  society,  law  and  order  and  kept  him 
somewhat  restrained.  Religion  is  the  handmaid  of  con- 
science and  both  groped  together  up  to  the  present  time 
inseparable — neither  able  to  exist  without  the  other. 

Thus  the  new  philosophy  finds  man.  Religion  rests 
upon  assumed  immortality;  conscience  upon  religion.  The 
phil-'sophy,  by  proving  that  belief  in  immortality  is  an  il- 
lusion, that  the  soul  is  an  etherial  delusion,  that  with  the 
decease  of  body  comes  our  eternal  quietus,  proves  also 
that  there  is  no  religion.  The  great  bulwark  of  human- 
ity, moral  law,  order,  hope,  restraint,  is  annihilated  at  one 
stroke.  Conscience,  resting  upon  religion,83  is  also  shat- 
tered with  it,  and  man  goes  back  to  his  primeval  cunning 
and  brutal  in-tincts. 

Now,  in  coloring  our  description  of  the  revolution  in  a 
history  of  the  lowly,  let  us  select  an  average  workingman 
who  has  been  converted  to  the  new  philosophy  as  thous- 
ands are — and  picture  the  effect  upon  him  as  an  agitator 
of  the  labor  question. 

Belief  in  the  doctrine  of  development  is  belief  either 
that  man  is  without  an  immortal  spirit  or  that  through 
his  own  genius  and  cunning  he  has  evolved  or  developed 
one  out  of  his  original  beasthood,  independently  of  an  al- 
mighty power.  The  latter  is  not  even  pretended.  Con- 
sequently immortality  is  denied.  The  belief  also  stamps 
out  religious  conscience  ;  leaving  in  him  the  counscious- 
ness  that,  as  there  is  no  responsibility  before  God — there 
being  none  except  insentient  law  which  regulates  the  uni- 
verse, the  only  thing  to  consider  before  the  commission 

33  Conscience  resting  on  punishments  and  rewards  for  actions  in  the  phys- 
ical world,  as  effects  of  causes,  ia  not  here  taken  into  consideration. 


64  INDO-EUROPP1AN  LABOR. 

of  a  deed,  is  caution,  for  safety's  sake;  first  that  the  act 
may  not  recoil  upon  himself,  and  second,  that  he  be  not 
caught  in  it  and  discovered.  These  are  affairs  of  cold 
reason.  Concience  with  its  compunctious  concomitants, 
is  ruled  out  of  the  affair;  and  rigid  experimental  know- 
ledge, aptitude,  tact,  adaptiveness  take  its  place.  No  mat- 
ter how  horrible  the  work  to  be  undertaken,  he  is  totally 
absolved  from  danger  of  punishment  if  cunning  enough 
to  elude  the  natural  and  the  statute  laws  and  succeed. 
With  cold  reason  and  in  cold  blood  he  fearlessly  under- 
takes the  deed,  knowing  that  to  succeed  is  to  survive  his 
victim  and  be  happy. 

Lions,  dogs,  wolves,  hyenas,  vultures  are  constantly  do- 
ing this  for  they  are  in  the  world  of  competition  and  have 
no  conscience  ;  and  he  is  not  a  whit  above  them  morally. 
Had  he  the  restraint  of  religious  conscience  in  the  same 
field  of  competition,  he  would  be  lifted  by  it  above  these 
brutes.  It  teaches  him  the  survival  of  the  fittest  and  in- 
flates his  egotism  with  presumption  that  he  is  superior  to 
his  victim.  It  thus  unhinges  the  little  enlightenment 
which  mutual  co-operation  and  social  interaction  have  by 
great  agonies  of  effort  and  with  the  labors  of  conscience, 
sympathy  and  belief  in  immortality,  brought  into  the 
world.  Does  it  indeed,  threaten  our  civilization  ? 

One  will  say  this  shocking  description  may  apply  to  the- 
workingman;  but  we  think  it  too  often  applies  practically 
to  the  most  educated.  It  especially  applies  to  them;  for 
such  revolting  immorality  seldom  penetrates  the  ranks  of 
laborers  who  from  remote  ages  of  the  past  have  been  re- 
ligiously inclined  and  rather  prejudiced  in  favor  of  reli- 
gion. No  tale  of  ancient  labor  can  ignore  its  religion. 

But  admitting  the  workingman,  t.nd  agitator  to  have 
become  a  convert  to  this  philosophy,  we  still  have  the  same 
revolting  consequences.  Such  consequences  are  now  con- 
stantly transpiring.  The  present  century  is  producing 
some  reformers  who  are  believers  in  the  doctrine  of  de- 
velopment and  are  scoffers  of  religion.  Few  of  tliem  ex- 
pect to  live  beyond  their  grave.  Many  have  no  conscience 
regarding  a  f  uture  punishment  and  are  two  honest  in 
their  earnestness  when  they  conspire  against  great  wrongs 
and  argue  to  destroy  this  civilization.  Any  person 


BASIS  INTRODUCING  THE  LABOR   WARS.      G5 

shielded  from  restraints  of  conscience  by  a  logic  which 
poses  on  the  dignity  and  grandeur  of  science,  may  guard 
himself  and  his  legions  from  detection  by  buckling  on  the 
life-preserver  of  cold  reason,  and  boxing  himself  into  some 
sequestered  laboratory  and  with  recondite  presumption, 
construct  infernal  machines.  He  may  sally  out  with  these 
and  if  there  come  conflicts  between  him  and  unjust  juris- 
prudence or  even  tornadoes  of  destruction,  it  is  but  the 
recoil  of  a  philosophy  that  is  driving  men's  conscience 
from  the  earth. 

This  lack  of  conscience  is  seen  in  the  brutal  treatment 
of  poor  slaves  by  Damophilus  to  which  we  devote  a  long 
chapter  of  this  book.  It  is  a  want  of  feeling  that  marks 
the  social  ages  of  the  past  and  rightly  does  not  belong  to 
modern  days. 

It  were  difficult  to  describe  the  terrible  depression  of 
moral  sentiments  to  which  a  man  naturally  sinks  under 
this  doctrine,  if  really  convinced  by  it  that  his  own  cun- 
ning, aptitude  and  ambidexterity  are  legitimate  forces. 
upon  which  he  must  depend  for  success  and  survival. 
Freed  from  the  fear  of  punishment  beyond  this  life,  he 
finds  that  the  conscience  within  his  breast  h.-.s  fled.  There 
is  no  everliving,  responsible  soul  and  consequently  no  re- 
sponsibility. He  finds  himself  completely  absolved  from 
any  danger  except  that  of  failing  in  the  attempt.  He  de- 
pends entirely  upon  adroitness  or  cunning.  Egotism 
lendr.  him  faith  in  this;  for  men  are  enterprizing  and  glad 
to  undertake  innocent  adventures  and  in  this  philosophy 
every  act  is  innocent  which  does  not  recoil  upon  its  author. 
Thus  stimulated  and  shielded  lie  goes  back  to  brigand- 
age and  hardened  to  fratricide,  is  willing  to  do  devil  work 
of  whatever  manner  that  promises  to  gratify  groed,  whim 
or  caprice,  in  cajoling  the  transient  hour.  In  the  com- 
petitive struggle  for  existence,  it  is  true,  every  one  has 
the  same  chances  but  the  survival  falls  to  him  who  pos- 
sesses the  most  of  force,  tact  and  cunning.  Reason  1  as 
not  yet  changed  the  moral  aspects  of  things  from  this 
fighting,  competitive  state,  to  the  mutually  co-operative 
condition  wherein  all  harmoniously  agree  to  care  for  each 
other  as  the  best  means  of  caring  for  themselves.  This 
great  epoch  is  fast  coming.  Until  its  ai rival  men  are  in 


66  INDO-EUROPEAN  LABOR. 

the  competitive,  transitionary  state  whose  progress  de- 
pends upon  every  possible  advantage  known  in  civiliza- 
tion; and  one  of  the  most  powerful  agents  for  transform- 
ing such  into  noble,  sympathetic  beings,  and  quickening 
them  into  the  sweet  emotions  of  love  and  care,  is  and  al- 
ways has  been  conscience.  When  the  time  arrives  that 
reason  shall  have  become  wise,  shall  have  massed  its  way- 
ward individualism  into  collective  solidarity,  pruned  off  its 
egotism,  dressed  itself  in  robes  of  charity  and  mutual  love, 
outgrown  its  benighted  gropings  and  adapted  itself  to  a 
seat  in  the  Christian  temple  of  equality,  then  there  will  be 
time  for  further  and  more  scientifically  investigating  the 
crowning  problem  of  immortality. 


CHAPTER  ni. 

LOSTMSS.  ARCHAEOLOGY 

TRUE  HISTORY  OF  LABOR  FOUND  ONLY  IN 
INSCRIPTIONS  AND  MUTILATED  ANNALS. 

PROTOTYPES  OF  Industrial  Life  to  be  found  in  the  Aryan  and 
Semitic  Branches — Era  of  Slavery — Dawn  of  Manumission 
— Patriarchal  Form  too  advanced  a  Type  of  G-overnment 
possible  to  primitive  Man — Religious  Superstition  fatal  to 
Independent  Labor — Labor,  Government  and  Religion  in- 
dissolublyr  mixed — Concupiscence,  Acqisitiveness  and  Iras- 
cibility a  Consequence  of  the  archaic  Bully  or  Boss,  with  un- 
limited Powers — Right  of  the  ancient  Father  to  enslave, 
sell,  torture  or  kill  his  Children — Abundant  Proofs  quoted — 
Origin  of  the  greater  and  more  humane  Impulses — Sym- 
pathy beyond  mere  Self-preservation,  the  Result  of  Ed- 
ucation— Education  originated  from  Discussion — Discussion 
the  Result  of  Grievances  against  the  Outcast  Work-people — 
Too  rapid  Increase  of  their  Numbers  notwithstanding  the 
Sufferings — Means  Organized  by  Owners  for  decimati  g  them 
by  Murder — Ample  proof — The  great  Arnphyotyonic  League 
— Glimpses  of  a  once  sullen  Combination  of  the  Desperate 
Slaves — Incipient  Organization  of  the  Nobles. 

THE  history  of  the  lowly  classes  of  ancient  society  must 
begin  with  manumissions,1  although  slave  labor  seems  the 
most  ancient.  There  have  come  to  us  very  few  traces  or 
accounts  of  the  slaves  of  high  an  irjuity.  Except  some 
relics  which  have  been  found  in  caves,  somu  hieroglyphs 
carved  not  perhaps  by  themselves  but  by  masters  portray- 
ing their  low  condition,*  we  have  no  landmarks  to  guide 

i  Granier  de  Cassasnac,  Hist.  des  C  asses  Ouvr&ret,  Chap.  v. 

sThe  typical  strkes  and  uprisings  of  slaves  do  not  come  to  us  in  their  dreaded 
f orm  except  through  vague,  uncei  tain  ev  dence,  until  about  600  years  before 
Christ.  See  chapters  on  Strikes  ana  L  pr.Muj>s ,  ..//a. 


68  TREATMENT   OF  THE    POOR. 

our  groping  inquiry  through  the  long  night  of  time  which 
lasted  till  the  dawn  of  manumissions.  Unlike  the  African 
slaves  of  modern  times  who  were  the  property  of  a  class 
of  masters  not  of  their  own  race  or  kindred,  the  ancient 
slaves  were,  in  race  and  consanguinity,  the  equals  of  their 
masters ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  causes  ot 
their  emancipation  were  in  many  instances,  their  own 
resistance  to  slavery.  At  present  the  laboring  classes  of 
the  same  races  we  are  describing — the  Semitic  and  Indo- 
European — are  organizing  in  immense  numbers  and  with 
skill  to  resist  the  forces  which  modern  wage  servitude  in- 
flicts ;  and  it  is  therefore  very  similar  to  the  great  struggle 
humanity  passed  through  in  ancient  times,  to  resist  the  op- 
pressive system  under  which  nearly  all  were  born.  The 
difference  between  the  two  struggles  however,  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  ancient  one  had  to  deal  with  the  lowest,  most 
debased  and  cruel  species  of  subjugation  which  the  ancient 
religion  stamped  into  its  tenets.  Both  these  great  strug- 
gles are  of  long  duration.  When  the  first  was  partly  won 
Christianity  came  with  its  doctrine  of  equality 3  and 
brought  the  struggle  into  the  open  world.  It  went  hand  in 
hand  with  the  emancipation  movement  until  chattel  slavery 
and  its  vast,  aged  system  may  now  be  pronounced  extinct 
throughout  the  civilized  world.  The  struggle  has  contin- 
ued ;  but  from  emancipating  chnttle  slavery  it  has  shifted 
to  the  enfranchisement  of  competitive  labor. 

Notwithstanding  the  profound  learning  and  research  de- 
voied  by  M  de  LavelaveMn  proof  that  the  primitive  con- 
dition of  mankind  was  of  patriarchal  form,  we  find  that  the 
great  slave  system  always  prevailed  among  the  Aryans  Irom 
whom  we  are  the  immediate  descendants ;  and  indeed  he 
sets  out 5  with  a  confession  at  least  that  the  earl\  Greeks 
and  Romans  never  had  any  institutions  of  the  communal  or 
patriarchal  nature.  Prof.  Denis  Fustt-1  de  Coulanges  makes 

'  Granier,  Hist,  des  Clasess  Ouvrikres,  pp.  392-4;  Laveleye,  Primitive  Prop- 
erty, liitroduc.  to  1st  ed.,  pp.  xwi.,  xxvii.  xx.\..  xxxi.  Here  M.  de  Laveleye 
again  admit?  slavery  to  have  be  :n  earlier  than  commnnit-m. 

•i  Primitive  Projjt-rty,  ling,  trans.,  pp.  7--3J~>.  ihip.  ii. 

>  Idem,  p  6.  "From  the  earliest  limes  the  ;  .rut-Its  and  Romans  recognized 
private  property  as  applied  to  the  soil  and  triers  of  ancient  tribal  community 
were  already  so  intlist  not  as  no;  to  be  discoverable  without  careful  study.''  M. 
de  La\elnye  might  better  h:ive  s.ai'l  such  traces  are  not  disco'  c/uble  at  all ;  and 
iudrerl,  the  most  of  the  ini-iance-  he  cites  a  e  of  a  c  nuivirnti.'oly  recent  cr:i,  the 
proi>:i'ul  •  drv<  lojuiKMit  <>f  ivsistane  .  thousand  of  wars  after  the  in  an  n  mission  of 
8ia\es  Had  set  in  us  a  result  of  their  >irii  esand  npnidngs,  of  which  we  get  clues. 


LAW  OF   ENTAIL    AND    ITS    DANGERS.         69 

no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  Aryan  religion,  as  already 
described,  made  the  first  born  son,  by  the  law  of  entail,  the 
owner  of  his  own  children  who  thus  became  slaves.6  Ref- 
erences to  this  old  custom  are  very  numerous  in  the  an- 
cient writings.7  Under  Lycurgus 8  the  Spartans  tried  the 
system  of  communal  proprietorship  from  the  year  825  to 
371  B,  C.  Although  every  deference  was  paid  to  the  ten- 
ets of  the  Pacran  religion  that  this  celebrated  code  of  laws 
established  by  the  great  lawgiver  should  not  interfere  with 
worship,  yet  worship  itself  being  interwoven  with  pro- 
perty was  seriously  disturbed;  because  to  divide  among 
the  people,  the  rabble,  the  profane,  that  which  fell  to  the 
god  who  skpt  under  the  sacred  hearth,  ^or  to  his  living 
son,  sei-med  to  be  a  sacrilege  too  blasphemous  to  endure. 
The  scheme  fell  to  naught.  The  probable  fact  is,  that  the 
ancient  pater  families,  perceiving  himself  robbed  of  his  pa- 
te nity,  united  with  other  patricians  in  similar  trouble  and 
succeeded  in  working  the  overthrow  of  the  innovation. 
We  propose  to  establish  that  these  great  innovations,  like 
the  laws  of  Lycurgus  and  many  similar  attempts  at  reform, 
the  detailed  causes  of  whose  mighty  commotions  some- 
times shook  Rome  and  Greece  like  the  eruption  of  a  vol- 
cano, were  often  caused  by  the  multitudes  of  secret  trades 
and  other  social  organizations  existing  in  those  ancient 
days 

Historians  seldom  mention  them.  The  reason  for  this 
is  quite  clear.  This  disturbing  element  was  made  up  of  the 
outc  ists  of  society.  How  did  it  come  about  that  there  were 
such  outcasts?  The  answer  to  this  involves  a  detour  of 
discovery  into  phenomana  of  evolution.  Of  a  family  of  say 
thirty  persons — there  exists  abundance  of  evidence  that 
there  were  often  thirty  and  more  persons  born  to  one  patri- 
cian or  lord  9 — there  is  but  a  single  owner  or  director,  the 
first-born  son.  The  other  children  and  servants  by  pur- 
chase or  otherwise,  are  slaves.  It  was  a  crime  to  leave  the 
paternal  estate.  They  might  be  clubbed  to  death  for  dis- 

9 La  Cite  Aiiliqw;  Lemticus,  U.  4. 

i  Plato,  Minux,    also  Servitw   In  JSneid,  v.  84,    vi.  152. 

« Reseller,  Iliftnii-f  <fe  / '  ftemrrmit  Politiqur.,  French  tr.  Paris,  p.  192.  "He 
adopted  a  common  property;  education  in  common,  eating  in  common,  steal- 
in_r  authorized,  com-norce  interdicted,  precious  metal*  proscribed,  land  divided 
equally  anipnir  the  citizens  etc." 

iGnmlcr  O6' CuMagtUtC,  Hint.   <-'.es   domes   OuvrCeres,  p.  70 


70  TREATMEN1    OF    THE  POOR. 

satisfaction  with  their  lot  but  they  must  not  leave  or  desert 
it.  That  entailed  certain  death.  In  extraordinary  circum- 
stances they  actually  did  leave  the  bondage  of  the  paternal 
estate  and  become  wanderers  or  nomads.  This  was  the 
probable  origin  of  the  second  estate.  We  mean  by  this 
the  freedman.  Whether  they  obtained  their  freedom  by 
revolt  and  bloodshed,  by  running  away  from  their  masters, 
or  by  emancipation  as  per  agreement,  makes  little  difference. 
In  the  Asiatic  races  of  later  times  mentioned  by  Le  Play,19 
they  seem  to  have  never  relinquished  their  allegiance  to- 
some  lord,  patriarch  or  ruler.  By  a  tenacity  of  habit  to 
which  we  shall  refer,  the  very  most  ancient  customs  thus 
sometimes  come  down  to  us.  The  power  of  human  habit  is 
astonishing,  There  linger  to  this  day,  in  the  religion  wor- 
shiped by  the  most  enlightened  of  mankind,  m;iny  rites  and 
forms  common  in  remote  antiquity;  for  although  the  tenets 
and  the  sentiment  are  no  longer  the  same,  the  old  rites 
befit  themselves  to  the  ne\v  ideas. 

Desertion  from  this  bondage  is  known  to  have  been  a 
very  risky  affair ;  because  the  deserter  or  runaway  slave 
had  not  only  the  perils  of  the  act  of  desertion  to  run  but  he 
also  forfeited  his  right  and  title  to  the  small  hope  of  bliss 
accorded  him  by  the  gods  after  death.  Even  at  emanci- 
pation the  right  of  worship  ceased,11  and  a  new  alter  had  to 
be  erected.  This  was  in  case  of  marriage  of  a  daughter 
when  no  one  was  injured  or  offended.  But  a  deserter  was 
treated  with  terrible  malignity  both  by  the  father  or  owner 
and  by  the  injured  deity  whose  relationship  in  pedigree 
or  consanguinity  he  severed,  desecrated,  disgraced  by  the 
blasphemous  act,  They  had  curious  opinions  on  death  ; 
and  religion  to  those  ancient  working  people,  was  a  part  of 
life.12  The  fear  of  not  being  buried  with  the  right  of  sepul- 
ture was  greater  than  the  fear  of  death  itself.13  Although 
comparatively  no  consequence  was  attached  to  a  slave,  yet 
the  slave  himself  being  by  lineage  and  byentailment  a  chat- 
tel, evidently  had  some  right  to  sepulture.  Of  what  kind 

10  Le  Play,  Organization  of  Labor,  chap.  i.  §.  9,  Eng.  trans.,  assures  us  that 

among  the  nomads,  the  direct  descendants  of   one  father  generally  remained 

grouped  together.    They  lived  under  the  absolute  authority  of  the  h<  ad  of  the 

family,  in  a  system  of  community.    Some  of  them  are  living  in  this  method  still. 

uFustel  de  Coulanges,  Cite  Antique,    chap.  iii. 

ibidem,  chap.  i.  p.  12  "I/opinion  premiere  des  antiques  generations  fut 
que  1'etre  humain  vivait  dans  le  tombeau  ;  que  1'  ame  ne  se  separait  pas  du 
corps  et  qu'  elle  restait  fixee  &  cette  partie  du  sol  ou  leg  casements  etaient  en- 
0  rr6e." 


Cl VILIZA TJON  O UTGRO  WS  SLA  VER T.  71 

it  is  difficult  to  determine,14  because  historians  who  recorded 
military  deeds  and  legal  transactions  which  in  later  days 
were  considered  work  for  noblemen,  were  themselves  al- 
most always  of  noble  blood  and  would  not  mention  so  mean 
a  thing  as  a  slave  who  performed  labor.  This  fact  accounts 
largely  for  the  scarcity  of  written  record  in  regard  to  labor 
in  ancient  times. 

Compelled  by  the  darkness  of  this  unwritten  age  of  slav- 
ery which    must   have   lasted   infinitely  longer  than  seven 
thousand   years   of  whose    events  we  catch  an   occasional 
glimpse,  we  first  find   the.  great  philosopher  Aristotle  ac- 
knowledging,15 in  his  startling  prediction  that  "  slave  labor 
may  become  obsolete."     So  again  Rodbertus  of  our  own 
times,  looking  at  and   judging  from  the  organized  resistance 
of  laboring  men,  predicts  that  society  will  outgrow  wages  or 
competitive   slavery.16     H>re    are    two  seemingly    parallel 
cases  ;  the  one  representing  a  condition  of  affairs  350  years 
before  Christ,  the  other  taken  from  actual  conditions  before 
our  own  eyes,  in  both  cases,  given  against  the  stubborn  will 
of  the  ruling  wealthy  by  two  of  the  profoundest  and  most 
dmiiigly  honest  philosophers  the  world  has  produced.     At 
the  time'  Rodbertus  von  Yagetzou  made  this  startling  pre- 
diction,  Germany  under  Bismarck,  was  stifling  every   ef- 
fort of  press,  legislation,  trade-unions  and  socialists,  to  give 
the  dreaded  fact   to  the  world.    The  freedmen  at  the  time 
of  Aristotle  were  forming  an  innumerable  phalanx  of  com- 
bined strength.    It  is  not  hard  for  students  of  sociology  to 
understand  why  in  ancient  times  no  mention  was  made  by 
historians  of  the  wonderful  organizations  which  then  existed. 
But  for  laws  necessarily  recorded  for  the  use  of  government 
and  for  the  habit  which  labor  unions  of  those  times  enter- 
tained, compulsorily  perhaps,  of  inscribing  their  name,  fes- 
tivities, the  tutelary  saint  they  worshiped  and  the  handi- 
craft they  belonged  to,  upon  slabs  of  stone,  there  would  be 
no  means  of  knowing  or  even  conjecturing  the  history  of 
a  transition  ppiiod  \\hich  launched  u  an'vind,  :.f  er  long  cen- 
turies of  struggle,  out  of  a  passive  submission  to  abject  ser- 

w  Idem,    cnap.   i.   Aniifjues  Croyancet. 

H Later  we  find  cremation ;   but  only  the  poor  who  possessed  no  ground 
burned  tlioir  (lead.    These  were  the  outcasts  supposed  to  have  no  souls. 

.  i.  4.  ">  itodbertus,  Xwmal  ArbeiUtag ;  Ely,  HM. 

Frtttck  an'i  German  Socialims,  pp.  176-7. 


72  TREATMENT   OF   THE  POOR. 

vitude  into  the  true  competitive  system.  We  shall  farther 
on  have  more  to  say  in  detail  of  the  hatred  and  contempt 
which  the  ancient  slave  masters  held  toward  their  poor 
working  chattels. 

There  was  a  taint  upon  labor.  So  there  is  now.  Thus 
far  then,  there  is  no  progress.  We  shall  attempt  to  ana- 
lyze the  original  cause  of  this  taint  upon  labor  and  prove 
that  the  progress  of  to-day  consists  in  its  diminution. 

Admitting  the  theory  of  development  we  go  back  to  man 
at  the  dawn  of  reason,  when  he  was  still  a  beast.  We  even 
imagine  a  group,  such  as  Professor  Oswald  Hcer  has  pic- 
tured in  the  frontispiece  of  his  masterly  scieniific  work  on 
the  fossils  of  Switzerland."  Prowling  around  this  group  of 
naked  human  forms — some  upon  trees,  others  crawling1, 
others  walking  plantigrade,  or  gorilla-like — we  see  wild 
animals, -birds  and  reptiles,  all  in  search  of  food.  Just  as 
the  steer  after  a  desperate  encounter  with  its  rival  comes 
out  the  victor  and  ever  holds  the  mastery  over  the  rest  of 
a  herd,  so  the  most  powerful  and  ferocious  of  this  group  of 
primeval  men  wins  with  his  club,  his  fingers  or  fists  the 
mastery  over  the  rest.  These  are  first  impulses.  They  are 
entirely'animal  in  character.  Wild  geese  and  ducks  seek 
in  conflict  the  means  of  knowing  which  of  their  flock  shall 
be  leader  in  their  flight;  and  him  of  the  most  magnetic  or 
muscular  or  intellectual  powers  they  follow.  The  purely 
animal,  then,  is  the  form  which  primitive,  animal  m#n  as- 
sumes. This  strong  master  of  the  group  is  the  prototype  of 
the  patrician  and  inheritor  of  the  estate  as  thousands  of 
years  afterwards  we  find  him  lord  of  the  manor  with  his 
slaves  about  him.  It  would  be  absurd  to  suppose  that  im- 
mediately at  the  dawn  of  reason,  this  wild  animal  actually 
assumed  one  of  the  highest  types  of  civilization.  The  com- 
munistic or  even  the  patriarchal  is  one  of  the  h'ghcst  forms 
which  human  beings  have  attempted.  They  havi-,  it  is  true, 
been  attempted  but  mostly  to  prove  failures;  simply  be- 
cause they  were  of  a  type  even  in  their  crudest  state,  too 
far  progressed  for  others  to  appreciate  and  apply.  The 
master  or  as  we  may  better  characterize  him,  the  bully  has 
always  been  too  jealous.  That  Abraham  and  Moses  tried 
a  very  low  form  of  it,  and  isolated  themselves  so  as  not  to 

11  Dr.  Oswald  Heer,  Urwelt  der  Schweis, 


EVIDENCE    OF  INSCRIPTIONS.  73 

interfere  with  others,  is  true.  But  it  is  too  well  known  that 
the  Hebrews  were  not  appreciated  in  their  good  work. 
Their  very  attempt  to  institute  the  patriarchal  system  even 
in  its  imperfect,  half  competitive  form,  brought  against  them 
the  jealousy  of  the  world  of  heathendom.  It  was  an  intol- 
erable innovation  upon  the  more  :mcient,  aristocratic,  brutal 
system  of  masters  and  slaves.  And  it  was  no  mere  indi- 
vidual, but  this  gigantic  system  which  massed  its  powers  to 
drive  the  presumptions  Hebrews  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

The  mere  animal  form  of  govei'nment  must  have  come 
first.  This  reasoning,  says  the  law  of  evolution,  must  have 
borne  very  brutal  forms.  Surely  enough,  so  we  find  it  at  the 
dawn  of  history  and  at  the  highest  discernible  antiquity  not 
only  in  Greece  and  Rome  but  in  Egypt.  It  was  the  slave 
system  under  which  the  Egyptian  monuments  were  built; 
and  no  thinking  person  can  doubt  that  thousands  of  years  of 
this  slavery  mu-t  have  elapsed  before  the  Egyptians  arrived 
at  the  art  of  architecture  in  which  recorded  history  finds 
them.  Advancing  reason  had  already  been  of  millennial  date 
ere  those  people  could  have  known  how  to  carve  their  hiero- 
glyphs with  nice  precision  upon  tlie  monuments.  Again, 
we  fail  to  see  that  these  inscriptions  mention  any  mod»>  of 
a  more  ancient  communal  or  patriarchal  government. 
The  simplest  form  of  governing  the  primeval  race  must 
have  been  the  one  adopted  ;  and  the  simplest  was  the  one 
common  among  the  animals  of  to-day.  There  was  at  the 
head  of  every  group,  or  tribe,  or  family,  a  master ;  and  him 
the  rest  obeyed,  afterwards  adored. 

It  next  seems  natural  that  surrounded  by  wild  and  fierce 
creatures  of  the  waters,  glades  and  forests,  the  first  rea- 
sonable thing  to  protect  this  master  would  be  to  select  some 
place  of  security — some  rock  or  cave  or  height,  whence  he 
might  go  or  send  forth  into  the  forests,  the  swamps  and 
shores  in  search  of  fruit,  roots,  shellfish  and  game.  An- 
other thing;  it  is  natural  for  man  to  settle  permanently 
somewhere.  This  is  peculiarly  the  case  with  the  Aryan 
races.  It  is  the  form  of  life  almost  universally  adopted  by 
the  In  do- European  s.  They  select  a  seat  and  conquer  and 
subjugate  in  all  directions.  This  also  corresponds  with 
our  proposition  that  the  first  idea  was  to  obtain  a  home. 
With  the  growth  of  experience  in  the  application  of  reason 
came  egoism  which  it  i.s  said  the  brute  does  not  often  man- 


74  TREATMENT  OF   THE  POOR. 

ifest.  Now  with  animal  prowess,  a  little  reason  and  a  large 
egoism,  we  have  what  the  present  labor,  movement  calls  a 
"boss."  He  is  endowed  with  the  three  great  attributes 
•which  our  modern  authorities  on  moral  philosophy  denom- 
inate irascibility  and  concupiscence. 

Given  the  right  of  proprietorship  wrung  through  supe- 
riority in  physical  power  from  his  tribe  and  his  children, 
and  he  unhesitatingly  uses  them  as  slaves.  This  the  true 
beast  cannot  do,  since  it  requires  reason.  The  first  impulse, 
that  of  cupidity,  makes  him  a  tyrant  and  the  second,  that  of 
irascibility,  fills  him  with  cruel  ferocity,  accounting  for  the 
well  known  fact  that  the  ancient  slave-holder  could  and  often 
did  kill  his  own  children.18  The  first  impulse,  that  of  concu- 
piscence and  acquisitiveness  combined  into  one,  makes  him 
desirous  to  enjoy  and  accumulate.  So  his  children  are  nu- 
merous. These  two  nearly  allied  sources  of  human  desire  or 
greed  filled  him  with  a  rivalry  to  accumulate  and  often  to  se- 
quester the  stores  which  the  toil  of  his  slaves  produced. 

A  third  impulse,  that  of  sympathy,  being  yet  mostly  want- 
ing, man  reasonably  was  thus  filled  with  pomp  and  greed. 
These  whetted  his  yet  unbridled  pnssions,  making  him 
ambitions  to  embellish  his  estate,  caused  the  land  to  be  fruit-  * 
ful,  inspired  him  to  build  better  houses,  select  and  multiply 
his  concubines  and  otherwise  adorn  the  paternity.  But  the 
original  parent-aristocrat  or  paterfamilias  never  until  much 
later,  desisted  from  the  enforcement  ot'  absolute  virtue  of 
the  parent-aristocrat  mother  or  materfandlias. 

Sympathy,  it  would  seem  came  to  him  but  tardily.  Sym- 
pathy was  inspired  later; — brought  into  the  world  through 
the  cult  of  the  organizations  of  freedmen,  after  the  begin- 
ning of  the  era  of  manumissions.  Socrates  and  Aristotle 
recognized  their  powerful  school  of  fraternal  coherence  and 
mutual  love  which  it  seems  almost  certain  culminated  in  the 
wonderful  institution  known  as  Chistianity,  destroying  the 
old  Paganism  or,  at  least,  laying  the  foundation  for  its  final 
eradication  from  the  world. 

This  picture  presents  a  poor  outlook  for  the  slaves,  who 
were  obliged  to  perform  the  master's  drudgery.  They  how- 
ever, always  had  two  advantages  :  being  to  the  family  born, 

is  Terentius,  Heauton  Timm-urnmos,  Act  III.  5 ;  Dionysius  of  Halicarnessns, 
Antiquitalts  Romano?,  lib.  II.  cap.  xxvi. ;  (Jodex  Justiniani,  lib.  VII.  tit.  xlvii. 
PandecUe,  (Digest),  lib.  XXVIII.  log.  xi. 


THE  IGNOMINIOUS    CREMATION.  Ib- 

they  owned  a  meagre  right  to  some  kind  of  burial;  whereas 
it  is  known  that  later,  the  freed  man  could  only  expect  cre- 
mation. To  have  the  remains  refused  the  noble  rite  ofbur- 
ial  was  a  disgrace.  It  was  a  virtual  acknowledgement 
that  the  person  had  no  soul.  Malefactors,  runaways  or  de- 
serters and  freedmen  so  lowly  as  to  be  without  protection, 
in  other  words  all  whom  God  spurned  to  recognize  as  hav- 
ing an  immortal  life,  were  burned  or  cast  out  to  rot  without 
honors.19  The  other  advantage  was  that  their  owners  were 
their  supporters  which  freed  slaves  from  the  responsibilities 
of  the  struggle  for  bread.  Still  the  whole  picture  presents 
a  poor  outlook  for  the  slaves  who  were  obliged  to  perform 
his  drudgery.  But  as  if  they  might  be  inclined  to  desert 
him  the  religious  belief  was  so  riveted  upon  their  benighted 
minds  that  for  thousands  of  years  they  did  not  doubt  that 
the  punishment  for  desertion  would  be  a  species  of  damna- 
tion. The  slaves  were  taught  that  the  most  hallowed  of  all 
places  was  the  central  focus  or  alter  of  worship  of  the  manes 
of  their  master.  The  holy  and  awful  funeral  repast  had  al- 
ways to  be  partaken  upon  the  same  spot  where  the  family 
ancestors  lay.  Thus  for  generations  families  worshiped  each 
other  at  the  same  tomb.20  We  have  already  quoted  from 
Dr.  Fustel  that  the  dread  of  being  deprived  of  sepulture 
was  greater  than  the  fear  of  death  itself.  So  fearful  were 
the  ancients,  even  the  ancient  laborers,  of  arousing  the  ire 
of  their  tutelary  deities  that  they  worshiped  them  by  sacri- 
fices. They  even  fed 2l  these  disengaged  souls22  and  period- 
ically furnished  them  with  wine,  milk,  fruit,  honey  and  other 
table  delicacies  which  in  life  they  had  been  known  to  pre- 
fer. These  strange  beliefs  which  were  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  the  Indo-European, but  as  Fustel  de  Coulanges  has 
made  clear,  embraced  the  entire  Aryan  family,211  were  the 

js Cicero,  De  Legibun,  2,  23,  "Hominem  mortnnm,  inqnit  lex  XII., 

(mea^.in.;  the  Twelve  Tables, )  in  Urbe  ne  sepelito  neve  urito Quid?  qnl 

post  XII.  in  Urbe  i-epulti,  sunt  clari  viri." 

2'i  Knripides.    Trojans,    381. 

21  Virgil,  JEneid,  III.  SCO:  Euripides,  Jphigenia,  476,  "Behold,  I  pour 
upon  the  earth  of  the  tomb  milk,  honey  and  wine ;  for  it  is  with  these  that  we 
revivify  the  dead ;"  Of .  also,  Ovid,  Fastus,  II.  540. 

22 critically,  this  expression  is  incorrect:  for  the  ancients  believed  that  the 
soul  was  never  disengaged,  but  remained  buried  with  the  body  in  bliss.  Con- 
sult Fnstel  de  Coulanges,  Cite  Antique,  liv.  I.  chap.  iv. 

is  In  substance  Dr.  Fnstel,  Idem.  p.  26  says:  Ces  croyances  ne  sont  paa 
asurement  empruntecs  ni  par  les  (Irecs  (!es  Hindous  ni  paries  Hindons  des 
Grers  :  mais  flies  appartenaient  a  toutes  les  deux  races,  de  loin  reculees  et  dtt 
milieu  de  r  Asie. 


76  TREATMENT   OF   THE  POOR. 

prevailing  ones  and  formed  the  basis  of  the  great  Pagan  re- 
ligion. The  superstition  worked  so  powerfully  upon  the 
benighted  conscience  of  slaves  that  however  severe  their  lot, 
they  required  a  higher  scale  of  enlightenment  than  could  be 
had  in  these  low  forms  of  slavery  before  they  could  see  their 
way  clear  to  revolt,  This,  however  came  in  the  course  of 
time.  There  is  no  doubt  that  discussion  among  the  numer- 
ous organizations  of  freedmen  did  much  toward  bringing 
this  about.  The  increasing  number  of  slaves  also  gave  them 
opportunity  to  meet  and  interchange  opinions.  In  the  deep 
gloom  of  abject  slavery  men  seldom  revolt.  1  Revolt  is  es- 
pecially rare  where  there  is  no  contact  with  public  opinion 
adverse  to  it.  It  is  not  probable  therefore,  that  the  slaves, 
however  bad  their  treatment,  found  themselves  in  a  condi- 
tion enough  advanced  in  the  scale  of  manhood  to  organize 
revolt  until  thousands  of  years  of  their  abject  servitude  had 
elapsed.  But  it  appears  certain  that  revolts  had  been  going 
on  for  a  long  time  before  we  catch  the  earliest  clues  to 
their  history. 

When  language  had  become  perfected  and  means  of 
mutual  comprehension  had  come  into  their  grasp,  so  that 
an  intelligent  interchange  of  each  others  feelings  was  had, 
and  it  became  easy  to  express  their  grievances  and  suffer- 
ings one  with  another,  they  began  to  revolt.  If  a  lord  or 
capitalist  in  a  paroxysm  of  unbridled  rage,  ordered  one  slave 
for  a  trivial  offense  to  be  strangled  by  the  others,*4  they 
were  compelled  to  be  the  executioners  of  their  comrade. 
If  his  majesty  raised  his  hand  and  dashed  out  the  brains  of 
his  own  child,  the  other  children,25  though  by  no  means 
so  keenly  sensitive  to  the  horror  as  we  of  our  own  time, 
would  feel  a  common  sympathy  and  perhaps  lay  up  the  in- 
fanticide for  a  future  day  of  vengeance.  When  the  right  of 
sepiiiture  was  taken  from  them  and  they  found  that  even 
the  consolation  of  religion  was  gone,  they  went  desperate 
and  reckless  over  the  imagined  withdrawal,  by  the  God 
they  worshiped,  of  his  blessing.  In  this  state  of  mind  they 

»4See  story  of  Damophilos  in  chapter  viiL,  on  the  revolt  of  Eunus. 
25  We  have,  in  the  ancient  records,  many  allusions  to  the  murder  of  chil- 
dren by  the  lords   of  the  estate.    See  Dionys^Sus  of  Ualicarnassus,  Arcltiologia 

Rkomana,  lib.  II.  Cap.  XXVi.  'O  Se  riav  'Pw/uouW  vo^o^tT^  ano<ra.v,  co?  eirrtii',  eS- 
tax€v  f^ovtriav  irarpi  KaQ*  utoO,  «ai  irapa  TTO.VTO.  TOV  TOV  /3iov  \povov . . . .,  edvTt  airoK- 
rivvvvat  Trpoatpijraf  Also  Code  of  Justinian,  lib.  VI H.  tit  Xlvii.  ie1*.  X.,  where 
this  right  is  mentioned  as  having  once  existed  ;  ''Jus  (patrbus)  vitas  in  liberos 
necisque  potestas  olim  erat  permissa." 


THE    FIRST  MERCENARY   SOLDIERS.  77 

must  have  frequently  plotted  together  and  concocted  insur- 
rections.26 They  however,  did  not  co-operate  with  each 
other  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth.  Thi<  is  a  phenome- 
non of  which  we  shall  hereafter  speak  more  lengthily.  But 
the  principle  cause  of  the  rebellions  which  in  course  of  time 
became  very  common,  was  their  increase  among  themselves. 
It  must  not  be  supposed  because  the  master  who  owned  all 
at  their  expense  and  degradation,  that  he  could  and  did  live 
in  unbridled  libertinism  among  his  human  chattels,  who  by 
reason  of  the  taint  on  labor  never  had  recognized  family  al- 
liances among  each  other.  However  stringent  the  rules  of 
tyrants  over  the  oppressed  they  were  never  known  to  en- 
tirely prevail  over  nature.  What  the  form  of  alliance  be- 
tween the  sexes  of  the  very  ancient  slaves  may  have  been 
is  not  fully  known  ; — whether  free  of  formality  or  by  the 
ligature  of  accorded  right."  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  fact  re- 
mains that  the  human  race  was  by  no  means  dependent  for 
its  increase  upon  the  heads  of  optimate  families.  A*  was 
the  case  with  the  negro  slaves  in  the  Southern  States  or'  the 
American  Republic,  so  in  Greece-  and  Italy  the  slaves  mul- 
tiplied among  themselves.  In  course  of  time  they  grew 
very  numerous.  Of  course,  as  their  number  increased  they 
outgrew  the  actu.-d  requirements  of  the  landed  estate  to 
which  they  were  ent'eoffed.  Then  they  were  sold  to  other 
estates  or  killed.2"  Later  when  wurs  occurred  they  become 
mercenaries,29  in  earlier  times,  under  their  owners,  as  im- 
pedimenta of  the  aimy;  not  as  combatants,  becau-e  they 
were  of  too  ignoble  birth  to  engage  in  the  aristocratic  vo- 
cation of  war.  Still  later  we  find  them  assuming  the  dig- 
nity of  combatants.  Of  this  latter  period  we  find  clearer 
traces,  and  shall  show  that  these  mercenaries  were  none 
other  than  the  supernumeraries  from  the  estates,  who  had 
ruu  away  to  take  into  their  own  hands  the  struggle  for  ex- 

'-'•  Undeniable  evidence  of  this  is  fonnd  in  the  great  servile  wars  of  Sicily, 
where  Demeter  or  Ceres,  goddess  of  that  region  was  complained  of  by  the  slaves 
a*  having  deserted  them.  See  Bucher,  Aufstdnde  der  unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  03 
and  54,"  Siefert,  Sicilische  Sklavenkrifge,  S  17-18 

-•  Se  •  cuup'ers  xiii.    to    xx.    on  the  Collegia  and  Sodalicia  of  Italy  and  the 

Erann!  and  Tkiaxni  of  the  Greek-speaking  labor  unions,  which  produce  plenty  of 

proof  that  from  before  iVC.  600.  the  freedmen  hid  their  laws  of  marriaee. 

The  more  ancient  sl:ive:'v  :<  <  b~cnre  in  records  of  the  social  habits  of  the  poor. 

ic,   Hift.  des  Classes  Ouvrieres,  p.  01 

»Grote.  History  of  Greece,— IHomydia  Hie  Eltlfr.  Dionysii.s,  Tyiunr  of  Syra- 
cuse employed  mercenaries,  .'iii'i  iiion's  conquest  of  Syracuse  a<:.unst  iiionyfius 
the  Younger  was  be^uii  with  mercenary  troops  in  B.  >'.'.  359. 


78  TREATMENT  OF  THE   POOR, 

istence.  It  is  very  easy  to  prove  that  there  were  organiza- 
tions or  unions  of  mercenaries  who  sold  their  services  to 
princes  and  their  generals,  undertaking  to  accomplish  cer- 
tain military  feats  for  a  recompense. 

But  we  are  still  treating  of  the  workingman  as  a  slave. 
The  father  of  the  family  was  one  individual.    But  the  family 
itself  often  consisted  of  fifty.     Now  as  the  only  one  of  all 
these  eligible  to  the   blooded  dignity  of  nobility  was  the 
father,  what   became  of  the  rest?30     They  were  not  only 
slaves  but  they  formed,  as  it  were,  another   race.    They 
were  the  plebeians,  the  proletariat ;  "  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water."     It  was  impossible  under  the  extremes 
of  this  social  divergence,  for  any  communication  or  sympa- 
thy  to  be   recognized  between   them,    Even  though    the 
master  was  the   father  and  the  child  legitimate  though  a 
slave,  by  the  deadly  inheritance  of  his  bondage  riveted  upon 
him  through  immemorial  usage,  he  dared  not  look  up  into 
his  parent's  face  with  the  sweet,  tender  love  of  our  modern 
•consanguinity  !     It  was  a  sacrilege.    Equality  was  impossi- 
ble.    The   number  therefore,  of  the  slave  race  compared 
with  the  noble,  was  as  fifty  to  one.     Even  as  late  as  the 
beginning  of  that  powerful  reform  known  as  Christianity 
which   may  be  characterized  as  an  emancipation  proclama- 
tion, the  slave  system  was  in  full  operation  and  the  num- 
ber of  slaves  enormous. 

It  is  through  that  long  night  of  slavery  for  the  working 
people,  that  humanity  received  its  almost  indelible  stamp 
of  reproach  and  contempt  which  lingers  to-day  in  the 
*'  taint "  of  labor.  During  the  struggle  of  strikes  and  up- 
risings that  set  in  after  the  slaves  became  numerous  and 
•colonies  of  them,  either  as  marauders  or  adventurers  ap- 
peared, the  slave  race  developed  many  men  and  women  of 
extraordinary  genius  and  ability.  We  shall  present  an 
elaborate  history  of  these  as  landmarks  in  our  biography  of 
the  lowly  while  groping  through  the  barren  void  which 
the  historians  and  the  literary  \\reckers  have  k-ft  us,  torn  in 
fragments  or  quite  unchronicied  in  their  short  sighted  con- 
tempt and  eagerness  to  set  forth  only  exploits  which  the 
ambition  of  their  noble  masters  inspired.  So  poor  was  the 
food  doled  out  by  the  masters  to  their  slaves  that  they  may 

so  The  Materfamilias  or  married  mother  kept  herself  in  severe  seclusion  80 
*8  to  be  above  suspicion 


BRANDED  AND  FED  HUSKS  AND  PODS.      79 

be  said  to  have  been  fed  like  animals  from  the  crib.  Horace, 
Herodotus,  Lucanus,  Livy,  Pliny  and  many  others  give  tes- 
timony of  the  wretched  food  these  poor  slaves  received  in 
Greece,  Egypt  and  Rome.  Peas,"  nuts,  roots,  pods, 
skimmed  milk,  very  poor  bread,  and  none  made  of  white 
wheat  flour.32  Great  suffering  from  want  is  mentioned  in 
Pliny's  Natural  History,  among  the  slaves  of  Italy.  An  epi- 
demic like  the  black  death  twice  broke  out  among  them. 
He  also  states  that  this  disease  did  not  attack  the  noble  or 
well-to-do  people.33  These  great  sufferings  and  privations 
caused  the  death  rate  to  be  so  high  as  to  decimate  the 
ranks  of  the  slaves  thus  reducing  tl,e  danger  always  feared 
by  the  masters,  of  revolt  and  of  plottings  for  insurrection. 
Aside  from  the  curse  which  their  lowly  condition  stamped 
upon  the  slaves,  they  were  treated  with  igmominy  and  gen- 
erally marked  with  the  stiches™  on  their  faces.  The  word 
stigma  among  the  Greeks  was  full  of  reproach,  not  only 
because  the  scars  were  on  the  faces  and  bodies  of  these  poor 
white  men  and  women35  doomed  to  perpetual  servitude, 
but  because  it  was  also  indelibly  stamped  upon  their  social 
life.  Granier  who  produced  a  gem  in  his  great  work36  for 
which  the  subsequent  labor  movement  acknowledges  its  in- 
debtedness, says  of  this  ancient  slavery ;  "  This  curse  of 
blood  is  implacable.  Ventidius  Bassus  was  so  fortunate  as 
to  become  a  consul.  They  said  to  him,  you  were  a  boot- 
black. Gulerius,  Diocletian,  Probus,  Pertinax,  Vitellius, 
even  Augustus  had  the  good  fortune  to  become  emperors. 
They  said  to  Galerius:  You  were  a  swineherd  ;  to  Diocle- 
tian :  You  were  a  slave ;  to  Probus :  Your  father  was  a 
gardener;  to  Pertinax:  Your  father  was  a  treedman  ;  to 
Vitellius :  Your  father  was  a  cobbler ;  and  they  went  so 

"Horace,  Ad  Pisortem,  v.  249. 

*»  Homer,  Odessey,  lib.  VIII.  c.  v.  221,  222.      The  earth  born  multitudes  : 

"Twy   6*  oAAcoi'  efjLe    <£>I?/AI    iroAu    iroo$epiffTepov   eu'cu, 
*O<rom    vvv   /Sporoi   tiyiv   eiri    ^floi-i    <rirov   e&ovrfs." 

w  Pliny,  Natural  History,   XXVI.  c    iii.    "Non  fuerat  hac  lues  apud  ma- 
jores  patresque  nostros  '' 

si  see  Com<rdice  of  Plautns :    Siichvt,    "The  marked  Slave;'"    also  Plutarch,. 
Nicias,  29;  Xenophon,  De    Vectigal.,  c.  iv  ;   Diod   XXXIV.  Fragment,  Dindorf 

as  Homer,  Iliad,    I.  233    "'i  he  earth-born  multitude.  ' 

ss  Granier  de  Cassaarnac,  Hist  des  Classes  Ouvrieres  ;  especially  in  chap,  v 
117;  McOullaffh,  Industrial  History  of  Free  jfaliotu ;— The  Greeks.  This  scholar 
quotes  from  Hesiod's'Ep^a  <cai  'Hfit'pai,  r.  186.,  where  the  great  poet  appeals 
to  the  lords  for  amelioration  of  the  people's  sufferings :  "Hesiod  lived  for  many 
years  in  Boetia  where  the  oppression  and  exclusiveness  of  the  dominant  classes 
was  as  unrelenting  as  in  Lacedeemon."  Greek  Industries,  pp  6-7. 


80  TREATMENT   OF    THE  POOH. 

far  as  to  write  on  the  marble    of  the  statue  of  Augustus,  in 
the  lifetime  of  this  master  of  the  world:  Your  grandfather 
was  a  merchant,  and  your  father  a  usurer."    The  same  keen 
observer  in  his  investigation  of  these  ancient  phenomena  of 
slavery,  makes  a  very  important  suggestion,  the  result,  le 
says,  of  his  own   personal  reading  of  the  Iliad  of  Homer  : 
that  as  there  is  in  the  whole  of  that  celebrated  poem,  not 
one  allusion  to  freedmen,  or  to  the  subject  of  emancipation; 
whereas  in  the  Odyssey  there  appear  many  allusions  thereto 
it  is  therefore,  following  the  line  of  reason  adopted  by  com- 
parative philologists  and  historiographers  in  search  of  facts 
in  ethnography,  very  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  Iliad 
is   the.  oldest,  and    that  the   Odyssey    came    afterwards." 
H'jre  is  a  suggestion  worth  much  to  anthropologists  in  gen- 
eral ;  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  it  may  be  cleared  so  as  to  become 
useful  to  the  study  of  Sociology.    We  hear  of  no  great  spasm 
like  that  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  of  our  own  day,  which 
produced    the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.     If  nothing   of 
that  kind  occurred  between  the  composition  of  those  two 
poems,  so   ancient   and    obscure,  then   it  is   reasonable   to 
imagine  that  the  emancipation  was  gradual;  and  if  gradual, 
an  unlimited  time   must  have  elapsed — perhaps  thousands 
of    years — between  their  composition.     This  alone  seems 
capable  of  solving  the  incongruity.     But  it  tends  forcibly  to 
show  the   astonishing  age  of  slavery  which    may  well    be 
called  the  long  night  of  suffering  of  our  progenitors.     Cer- 
tain it  is,  however  that  the  Iliad  treats  of  the  extremes; 
the  lords  upon  the  one  hand  and  on  the  other  the  slaves. 
The   want  of  an  intermediary   class   shows  its  high  an- 
tiquity. 

At  any  rate,  all  these  researches  accumulate  evidence 
showing  the  absurdity  of  a  communistic  or  nomadic  form 
of  society  having  been  possible  among  the  Indo-Europeans 
from  whom  we  are  descended  unless  that  tendency  su- 
pervened upon  the  ancient  system  of  land  tenure  in  sub- 
sequent times.  There  crops  out  one  curious  association 
in  very  ancient  history  which,  to  the  reader  wishing  to 
gratify  his  military  or  ecclesiastical  taste  is  totally  unac- 
countable ;  but  which  appears  quite  plain  to  those  who 
study  history  to  enjoy  glimpses  of  the  social  life  of  the 
past.  We  refer  to  the  aristocratic  Amphictyonic  Council. 

ST  Granier  fie  ( •sspagnac,  Hist.  d«  Classes  Ouvr&res,  chap.  v.  p.  109. 


THE   AMPIIICTYONIC    LEAGUE.  81 

The  student  of  the  great  slave  system  sees  the  absurdity 
of  attributing  this  ancient  series  of  protective  orgaui/a- 
tions  either  to  ambitious  military  schemes  or  to  pure 
piety,  although  they  are  given  tons  by  historians,  {is  a  sys- 
tem of  neighbors  orgamzud  to  protect  and  perpetuate 
the  worship  of  the  Gods.  They  come  down  to  us  from 
the  gloomy  tradition  of  high  antiquity  ;  and  to  the  two 
first  mentioned  classes  they  are  utterly  incomprehensible. 
The  sociologist  however,  who  sees  the  slaves  growing  in 
numbers  while  the  gents 3B  remained  stationary  in  num- 
bers, can  easily  picture  the  causes  and  spirit  of  these 
leagues.  They  were  confederations  of  the  lords  or  indi- 
vidual owners  of  the  patrimonies  or  estates.  These  es- 
tates, as  we  have  seen,  fell  to  the  lords,  by  entail  in  pri- 
raogenitnre.  The  Amphictyony S9  was  simply  a  co-opera- 
tive association  of  the  lords  to  defend  their  estates;  and 
they  most  naturally,  as  customary  with  all  Pagan  ancients, 
held  forth  first  and  foremost  the  horrors  of  irreligion, 
knowing  that  the  superstition  of  the  slaves  was  their  true 
stronghold,  since  by  making  it  appear  that  attack  upon 
or  contemptuousness  <>f  the  holy  property  was  an  unpar- 
donable misdemeanor  or  even  to  utter  words  of  conspiracy 
against  that  property  remaining  in  the  hands  of  the  first 
born  son,  was  blasphemy.  This  superstition  thus  incul- 
cated was  always,  in  ancient  times,  the  bulwark  of  pro- 
tection to  the  nobles.  Lhe  Amphictyony  existed  2,000 
years  before  Christ,  probably  even  much  prior  to  ibat 
time,  and  grew  more  and  more  powerful,  until  about  B. 
C.  700  it  had  grown  in  numeric  strength  and  in  the  sub- 
tle art  of  self-protection  so  th  t  it  assumed  the  dignity  of 
the  Amphictyonic  Council,  seated  itself  in  the  holy  tc  m- 
ples  of  Apollo  and  Demeter,  and  had  delegates  who  met 
there  spring  and  autumn,  representing  twelve  tribes  or 
states  of  Greece  and  the  Archipelago.  Some  600  years 
before  Christ  the  Amphictyonic  Council  had  misunder- 
standings with  its  delegates  and  wars  of  extermination 
began.  These  troubles  were  called  the  holy  wars.  It  is 
known  that  for  many  centuries  these  corporations  pro- 
tected themselves  mutually.  If  one  of  the  sma  1  neighbor- 

ss  Latin  "Gens,"  whence  the  "gentry."    See  Mann's  Ancient  and   Mediaeval 
Republics,  chapter  vi. 

SB  Kiske.  American  J'olitical  Ideat.  D.   72. 


82  TREATMENT    OF    jHE  POOR. 

hoods  represented  in  and  protected  by  the  federation  was 
attacked  or  threatened,  the  entire  power  of  all  the  others 
was  thrown  together  in  its  defense.  The  article  of  agree- 
ment between  them  ran  as  follows:  Not  to  destroy  or  al- 
low to  be  destroyed  or  cut  off  from  water,  in  peace  or 
war,  any  town  in  the  Amphictyonic  brotherhood ;  not  to 
plunder40  the  property  of  the  god  or  treacherously  ex- 
tract valuables  from  the  sanctum.  Now  in  face  of  the 
fact  that  there  were  by  this  time  great  numbers  of  sup- 
ermini*^ rary  slaves  who  had,  on  account  of  their  servitude 
and  the  abuses  they  suffered,  become  reckless,  fierce  and 
ready  to  enter  upon  a  life  of  desperate  revolt,  still  we  find 
writers  denying  that  this  brotherhood  had  any  other  idea 
than  a  purely  religious  one.  To  the  searching  sociologist 
it  is  quite  clear  that  this  organization  must  have  been  one 
of  the  very  first  efforts  of  the  Indo-Europeans  to  form  a 
government  for  the  protection  of  property, 

From  incipiency  this  must  have  been  the  earliest  form 
of  government.  But  it  was  an  aristocratic  government 
which  cast  a  taint  on  labor.  It  perpetuated  the  holi- 
ness of  property  which  has  ever  since  upheld  the  dogma 
of  divine  right  of  the  fathers  and  of  kings  and  is  prob- 
ably the  originator  of  that  dogma.  Away  back  in  the 
past,  before  the  country  had  become  thickly  peopled  and 
while  superstition  combined  with  rigid  rules  of  the 
masters,  kept  down  all  danger  of  revolt  among  the  slaves, 
there  were  no  cities. 41  We  have  not  space  in  this  work 
to  explain  the  phenomenon  of  the  ancient  city,  but  refer 
the  curious  to  Dr.  Fustel,  whose  work42  cannot  be  perused 
without  profit.  Modern  scholars  are  making  valuable  com- 
pilations of  evidence  showing  that  cities,  like  nearly  ev- 
erything else,  were  a  natural  and  gradual  growth. 

The  great  Hesiod,  himself  a  poor  freedman  if  not  a  slave, 
may  have  had  the  Amphictyonic  league  and  its  wars  in 
mind  when  he  wrote  : 

"Men's  right  arm  is  law  ;  for  spoils  they  wait 
And  lay  their  mutual  cities  desolate."  <* 

49  The  custom  was  to  bury  with  the  deceased  father  many  precious  articles 
of  which  he  was  fond  in  life.  See  Funck-Brentano,  La  Civilisation  el  ses  Lois, 
on  this  Fetish  custom  and  his  evidence  that  the  favorite  wife  was  often  buried 
alive  alone  with  the  other  trinkets ;  livre  II.  c.  ii.  pp.  114-116. 

41  Fustel  deCoulanges,  CM  Antique,  liv.III.  c.  ii.  et  lii.    .       «/<*.   III.  c.  L 

o  Hesiod,    'Ep-ya   icai  'Hpcpat,  V.    161. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

ELEUSINIAN  MYSTERIES 

ANCIENT  GRIEVANCES  OF  THE  WORKERS. 

WORKING  PEOPLE  destitute  of  Souls — Original  popular  Beliefs — 
Plato  finally  gives  them  half  a  Soul- — Modern  Ignorance  on 
the  true  Causes  of  certain  Developments  in  History — Sym- 
pathy, the  Third  Great  Emotion  developed  out  of  growing 
Beason,  through  mutual  Commiseration  of  the  Outcasts — 
A  new  Cuit — The  Unsolved  Problem  of  the  great  Eleusinian 
My.-teries — Their  wonderful  Story — Grievances  of  slighted 
Workingmen — Organization  impossible  to  Slaves  except  in 
their  Strikes  and  Rebellions — The  Aristocrats'  Politics  and 
Religion  barred  the  Doors  against  Work-people — Extraor- 
dinary Whims  and  Antics  at  the  Eleusinian  -Mysteries — The 
Causes  of  Grievances  endured  by  the  Castaway  Laborers — 
Their  Motives  for  Secret  Organization — The  Terrible  Cryp- 
tia— The  horrible  Murders  of  Workingmen  for  Sport — Dark 
Deeds  Unvsiled — Story  of  the  Massacre  of  2V000  Working- 
men — Evidence — The  Grievances  in  Sparta — In  Athens — 
Free  Outcast  Builders.  Sculptors,  Teachers,  Priests,  Dancers, 
Musicians,  Artisans,  Diggers,  all  more  or  less  Organized — Re- 
tui  n  to  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries — Conclusion. . . . 

DURING  the  long  period  occupying — in  the  case  of  the 
Indo-European  race  from  which  most  of  us  are  derived, 
several  thousand  years,  there  came  about  a  differentia- 
tion in  favor  of  the  slaves.  Granier  in  his  bright  exposi- 
tion of  this  great  social  subject,  declares  slavery  to  have 
been  the  natural  outcome  of  the  Pagan,  or  family  religion.1 
Fustel  de  Coulacges  in  his  instructive  and  extraordinarily 
lucid  wcrk  has  proved  every  word  written  by  Granier 

'  Bitt,  dcs  C'j-.<ef  Ouvrieret.  pp.   39-41.    Vide  cha;'.  iii.  pattim. 


84  THE  MYSTERIES. 

upon  this  daring  theme,  to  be  true.2  Philosophers  of  our 
age,  catching  at  written  and  unwritten  obscurities  which 
saliently  obtrude  upon  the  path  of  researchers  groping  in 
sociology,  are  getting  down  to  real  causes  of  events  which 
for  2,000  years  remained  phenomena  undeciphered.  Ages 
upon  ages  have  rolled  and  the  mouldering  stones  and  tab- 
lets, invaluable  with  their  begrimed  inscriptions,  have  sau- 
cily stared  at  science,  unheeded.  Furtive  ^hints  by  anci- 
ent historians  for  centuries  have  mocked  the  lore  of  uni- 
versities, bearing  their  inuendos  which  failed  to  insult 
the  professorial  sticklers  to  our  darling  notes  and  emen- 
dations. Great  Social  wars  with  ominous  wing  have  been 
flopping  and  airing  our  ignorance  as  to  their  deep,  sup- 
pressed causes.  Then  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  empire 
— that  of  all  others  most  inexplicable  wonder — has  been 
for  twentjr  centuries  chopped  up  into  indigestible  morsels 
and  administered  to  students  of  history  searching  after 
great  events  and  ecclesiastical  lore.  At  last  the  student 
of  sociology  enters  the  field.  He  is  philosopher  enough 
to  divest  himself  of  the  crusty  film  in  which  prejudice  is 
encysted  and  manly  enough  to  step  out  of  the  contumeli- 
ous state  and  like  a  Murillo  go  down  among  the  tatterde- 
malions and  give  them  credit  for  what  they  were. 

Society  began  with  the  bully.3  It  began  with  unbridled 
irascibility,  concupiscence  and  egoism.  This  creature, 
man,  having  killed  or  clubbed  away  the  others,  sought 
among  the  females  the  handsomest  mate  and  in  the  best 
cave  or  hut  began  the  family.  The  Aryan  is  not  a  nomad. 
He  wants  a  home,  a  permanent  residence.  He  is  brigand 
enough  to  launch  forth  into  all  the  enterprizes  of  plunder, 
but  he  returns  to  his  home.  This  home  remained  his  fast- 
ness which  he  would  not  quit.  The  land  around  it  be- 
came his.  When  children  came  they  were  also  his. 
When  they  grew  strong  and  could  work,  his  concupiscence 
differentiated  into  cupidity;  and  begetting  many,  he  forced 
them  to  work.  They  became  his  slaves.  If  the  little  ones 
refused  or  otherwise  displeased  him  his  irascible  impulses 
prevailed  and  he  killed  them.  Those  whom  he  could 
not  spare  he  only  punished.  His  irascibility  made  him  a 

tLa  CM  Antique,  pp.  76-89;  See  also  Iliad,  xxi. ,  Oityisey,  xxli.,  Leviticus, 
XXV.  40,  41,  44,  47,  48. 

s  We  are  forced  to  employ  this  homely  term  as  there  exists  in  English  no 
other  which  so  nearly  conveys  our  idea. 


ORIGIN  OF   THE  PROLETARIAT.  85 

tyrant,  while  his  acquisitiveness  made  him  rich.  He  be- 
came a  lord.  Sympathy  was  a  stranger  to  his  bosom 
though  no  doubt  it  worked  an  influence  at  an  early  day 
in  moulding  the  nature  of  the  family,  as  we  know  there 
were  favorites. 

He  lived  in  the  wonder-world.  The  phenomena  of  na- 
ture he  could  not  understand.  There  were  thunders  and 
lightnings,  but  electricity  was  a  terror  which  shaped  a 
god.  When  this  god  of  nature  grew  into  shape  upon  his 
imagination  his  egoism  coveted  its  glory  and  immortality 
and  the  bully  came  to  imagine  himself  a  god;  and  assumed 
for  himself  power  and  immortality  deifying  himself  at 
death  and  ordaining  his  first-born  son  his  worshiper  and 
the  sole  inheritor  of  his  fortune.  The  remuneration  de- 
manded of  the  son  for  this  succession  was  the  paternal 
worship  and  the  deification  and  adoration  of  the  dead  fa- 
ther, now  a  saint.  Egoism  was  thus  the  originator  of  the 
Pagan  religion,  of  immortality  and  of  the  sainthood.4 

It  was  a  part  of  the  genius  of  this  cult  to  be  aristocratic 
and  exclusive.  It  inculcated  divine  rights  of  masters,  of 
noble  lords  and  afterwards  of  kings.  On  the  other  hand 
it  was  a  part  of  the  genius  of  paganism  to  have  slaves. 
It  was  so  exclusively  aristocratic  that  only  a  very  few  could 
possibly  enjoy  its  beatitudes.  The  rest  were  obliged  to  be 
castaways.  The  castaways  who  were  debarred  the  favorit- 
ism of  eternal  life  through  the  aristocratic  burial  and  dei- 
fication were  slaves,  doomed  by  an  inheritance  of  expro- 
priation and  of  poverty,  to  slavery.  When  they  became 
numerous,  although  wretched,  there  now  and  then  devel- 
oped a  man  or  woman  of  genius.  Bereft  of  everything 
tangible,  they  still  had  minds.  With  minds  they  consid- 
ered and  discussed  their  lowly  condition;  with  strength 
and  ingenuity  some  worked  themselves  out  of  bondage  and 
became  freedmen.  As  freedmen  they  began  to  organize 
into  protective  associations  and  trade  unions.  Thus  two 
distinct  parties  were  formed. 

Meantime  the  power  of  the  lords  or  property  owners 
increased  but  not  so  rapidly  in  numeric  strength  as  the 
power  of  the  outcast,  and  the  grandees,  seeing  the  bondmen, 
runaways  and  freedmen  forming  into  communes,  some  as 

<  Latin  pa/janus,  of,  or  belonging  to  the  cormtry,  paffu*.  There  were  then 
no  towns  or  cities.  These  came  later.  Cf.  La  Citr  Antique,  patrim. 


86  THE  MYSTE1UE8. 

tradesmen,  some  as  brigands,  all  dissatisfied,  some  very 
dangerous,  also  betook  themselves  to  organization.  Thus1 
there  were  two  distinct  classes.  Which  of  these  two  clas- 
ses began  earliest  to  organize  for  self  defense  we  cannot  un- 
dertake to  prove  but  reason  conjectures  that  it  must  have 
been  the  outcasts.  But  certain  it  is 6  they  formed  into  power- 
ful phratries 6  or  curies  for  mutual  assistance,  sometimes  un- 
der religious  pretenses,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Italian  collegia. 

All  along,  parallel  with  each  other  through  time,  these 
two  systems,  the  grandees  or  genies  on  the  one  hand  and 
the  outcasts  or  disinherited  on  the  other,  have  existed,  se- 
curing themselves  by  mutual  organization.  We  do  not  see 
in  history  much  of  the  working  classes.  The  principal  men- 
tion made  of  them  is  in  connection  with  slavery  and  the 
concomitant  degradation  of  servitude.  We  know  from 
certain  passages  in  history  that  insurrections  or  slave  re- 
bellions occurred.  Some  of  them  were  on  a  pi'odigious 
scale.  Plutarch  mentions  instances  where  the  masters  by 
decree  of  the  phratries  sometimes  allured  large  numbers  of 
the  slaves  on  plea  of  a  festival  or  hunt  and  when  at  a  con- 
venient spot  fell  upon  and  murdered  them  by  hundreds, 
merely  to  get  rid  of  a  dangerous  element.'  That  the  ser- 
vile element  keenly  felt  the  contempt  in  which  they  were  re- 
garded, crops  out  in  the  records  of  the  remote  past.  We 
propose  to  give  many  instances. 

The  exclusion  of  slaves,  freedmen  and  afterwards  Christ- 
ians from  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  gives  the  student  of  so- 
ciology an  important  hint  to  pages  of  the  unwritten  labor 
question;  showing  the  reasons  why  the  outcasts  resort  el  to 
co-operation  among  themselves,  as  an  only  practical  court 
of  appeals  to  any  power  against  oppression  when  aggrieved. 
All  writers  who  have  spoken  of  this  celebrated  and  myste- 
rious organization  agree  that  it  was  very  ancient.  As  we 
have  found  irrefutable  evidences  of  numerous  trade  unions 
BO  early  as  the  eighth  and  ninth  century  before  Christ,  we 

»  Fustel  de  Coulanges,  Cite  Antique,  lib.  II.  pp.  39-89,  LaFamille;  Mann's 
Ancient  and  Mediaeval  Republics,  pp.  -22-27. 

8  Morgan,  Ancient  Societies,  p.  88 :  "The  <f>parpia  is  a  brotherhood,  as  the  term 
Imports ;  and  a  natural  growth  from  the  organization  into  gentes.  It  is  an  or-:mic 
union  or  association  of  two  or  more  gentes  of  the  same  tribe  for  certain  common 
objects.  These  gentes  were  usually  such  as  had  been  formed  by  the  segmenta- 
tion of  an  original  gens."  This  author  sees  some  analogy  bet'.veen  the  nnrient 
Greek  and  Roman  gens  and  certain  tribes  of  North  American  Indians  ;  uotabiy 
the  Iroqtiois.  Consult  chapters  ii.  and  iii. 

1  Plutarch,  Lycurgus ;    also  Lycurgus  and  Numn  a>n>i>nrfi.. 


THE  ORIGINAL  CRUSADE.  87 

need  not  trace  the  Eleusinian  band  back  of  that  time.  It 
is  however,  worthy  of  remark  that  this  organization  existed 
at  a  much  earlier  date  and  that,  although  the  societies  of  the 
workmen  do  not  as  luminously  come  to  the  front  on  oc- 
count  of  this  stigma  which  made  them  secret  and  prevented 
their  recognition,  it  is  no  proof  whatever  that  they  did  not 
also  exist.  Tne  organization  known  as  the  Eleusinians,8  ac- 
cording to  ancient  authors  was  in  full  force  1,500  years  be- 
fore Christ.  Cicero  who  was  an  admirer  of  all  the  pagan 
forms  that  tended  to  hand  down  the  exclusive  splendor  and 
dignity  of  the  aristocratic  stock,  believed  these  feasts  to 
have  belonged  to  the  remotest  antiquity  and  th.it  they 
lasted  the  longest  of  almost  any  institution.9  Like  the  great 
trade-union  movement  they  transmit  unwritten  records 
through  an  occasional  slab,  bearing  inscriptions.19 

The  Eleusinian  crusade  was  a  celebrated  and  exclusively 
aristocratic  religious  festival  in  honor  of  the  goddess  Dem- 
eter  or  Ceres,11  held  at  Eleusis,  a  large  town  some  ten  miles 
from  Athens,  in  Attic  Greece.  It  was  a  great  outpouring 
from  Athens,  every  5  years  in  the  month  Boedromion,1*  last- 
ing nine  days,  The  great  preparations  made  before  the  fes- 
tival began,  the  extraordinary  solemnity  of  the  affair,  the 
manner  in  which  the  Athenians  attended  it  in  a  drome  or 
chanting  caravansary,  gave  it  the  appearance  of  a  crusade. 
It  was  the  origin  of  all  well-known  crusades.  The  attend- 
ance at  this  crusade  was  a  trial  of  one's  eligibility  to  the 
blessings  of  life  eternal.  Eleusis  means  a  trysting  place  ; 
consequently  it  is  probable  that  the  srreat  games  suggested 
the  name  of  the  place,  and  onoe  established  upon  a  project- 
ing rock  of  the  sea,  the  city  afterward  grew  around  it  and  in 
course  of  time  held  a  large  population.  There  are  some 
touching  mementoes  which  may  be  gleaned  from  this  cele- 
brated name.  Whoever  reads  the  bible  in  Greek  finds  fre- 
quent mention  of  this  word  in  the  signification  of  the  com- 
ing of  the  Saviour.  It  is  a  symbolic  word.  Emblems  in 

8  In  later  centuries  the  little  Mysteries  continued  though  they  were  not  con- 
fined to  Elensis. 

;•  Cicero.   De  Legibus,   II.  can.   XVI.;    Pamgyricus  of  Isocrates,  6. 

Judging  from  the  slab  of  Puros  they  began  in  the  fifteenth  century  before 
Chr^t,     Laroiis.*e,  Dicliminaire  ITnimrnel.  Art    Lf»  fclfusiniens. 

11  Ceres,  like  the  Pelas^ic  Hermes  was  the  ithiphalic  deity,  having  power 
over  reproduction  and  the  s::ppiu-*  of  life.  Of.  Encyc.  Brit.  vol.  XI.  p.  670. 

'JBoijSpon.iiii',  the  space  of  time  from  ^ej>tc:nDer  15th.  to  October  15th.; 
from  pojjpoaeio,  I  chase  with  a  shout  Theseus  in  the  battle  with  the  Amazont, 
chnsc  d  them  with  cries  It  is  a  word  of  great  antiquity  Plutarch.  Theseiu, 


8«  THE   MYSTERIES. 

those  days  were  common ;  and  much,  that  is  unexplained  or 
that  may  yet  be  explained — unexplained  through  ignorance 
or  neglect — comes  out,  by  a  proper  interpretation  of  em- 
blems. 

But  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  were  too  absurdly  exclusive 
to  stand  the  erosions  of  what  is  known  as  progress.  In  per- 
fect agreement  with  what  we  have  said  regarding  the  ex- 
clusive character  of  their  worship,  centering  it  upon  the 
egoistic  household  name,  forcing  a  puffed  aristocracy  by 
dint  of  glorifying  a  human  creature  and  cutting  off  that 
glory  from  the  many,  especially  those  who  toil,  it  had  made 
itself  odious  and  intolerable  long  before  the  advent  of  Christ. 
Yet  the  antiquity  and  greatness  of  the  trysting  scenes  at 
Eleusis  had  become  renowned  in  every  well-known  part  of 
the  world.  All  over  Palestine,  long  afterwards  the  cradle 
of  another  but  infinitely  more  democratic  plan  of  worship, 
this  curious  practice  was  well-known.  In  Italy  and  Africa 
its  fame  had  gone  forth. 

We  are  not  speaking  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  merely 
to  recount  a  paltry  historico-ecclesiastical  fact.  We  are 
making  a  point  in  socio'ogic  research.  We  therefore  ask 
our  reader's  indulgence  in  comparing  the  social  life  of  home- 
spun work  people  through  a  metaphor  as  opposite  as  the 
Eleusiuian  emblems.  Yet  it  is  no  metaphor.  It  bears  with 
it  a  bone  of  contention  which  raged  for  centuries,  split  and 
divided,  founded  heresies,  sophistries,  philosophies,  provoked 
labor  unions,  involved  work-people  in  communism,  drew  out 
discussion  and  laid  the  foundation  of  the  religion  of  Jesus 
in  after  years.  We  now  proceed  to  explain  how  this  was 
done.  In  ancient  mythology  Proserpine,  or  as  some  write  it, 
Persephone,  WHS  the  beautiful  daughter  of  Ceres  the  Derneter, 
and  ot  Jupiter.  Pluto  the  god  of  the  infernal  regions  fell 
in  love  with  Proserpine  and  while  she  was  in  the  act  of 
gathering  tiowers  in  a  vale  ofEnna  in  Sicily,  stole  her  from 
her  mother,  carrying  her  off  to  his  nether-world  home.1* 
The  mother  though  an  immortal  and  living  on  the  heights 
of  Enna  the  Sicilian  Olympus,  was  so  grieved  at  the  loss  of 
her  child  that  she  came  down  from  heaven,  betook  to  her- 
self i  lie  garb  of  mortals,  became  an  old  woman,  assumed 
the  duties  of  a  nurse  and  wandered  through  the  country, 

13 Infra,  chap   viii..  containing  the  story  of  Eunus  and  the  srreat  servile  wr 


THE  LOST  CHILD  FOUND.  89 

plying  her  profession  for  a  subsistance  from  place  to  place. 
She  went  to  Eleusis  and  there  got  employment.  It  was  a 
job  of  nursini:  a  child  of  the  king  of  the  place.  The  child's 
name  was  Demophon  and  under  the  celestial  solicitude  of 
this  goddcjss  in  disguise,  Metauira,  the  mother,  beheld  with 
astonishment  and  curiosity  the  marvelous  thrift  of  her  boy, 
Ceres  breathed  upon  him  the  breath  of  life,  dressed  him 
with  ambrosial  ointment  and  at  night  used  to  purge  the 
dross  of  mortality  from  him  by  immersing  him  in  a  bath  of 
mysterious  fire,  with  an  object  of  making  him  also  immor- 
tal. But  one  night  the  fond  and  curious  mother  peeped 
through  the  veil  screening  the  immortalizing  process  of 
trans-substantiation  and  seeing  the  boy  pendent  in  a  halo  of 
flame  screamed  with  affright,  causing  the  haggard  old  nurse 
to  let  the  youngster  drop  deep  into  the  consuming  pit 
where  he  instantly  perished.  The  hag  then,  to  save  herself, 
threw  off  her  disguise  became  rehabilitated  and  forced  the 
people  of  Eleuses  to  build  her  a  temple  to  dwell  in  while  still 
continuing  her  search  for  the  lost  Proserpine.  Now  the 
professional  business  of  Jupiter  was  to  watch  the  interests 
of  mortal  men.  But  Ceres  unable  to  endure  the  loss  of  her 
stolen  child  and  remembering  the  details  of  her  husband's 
escape  when  a  babe  from  the  ferocious  Saturn,  struck  the 
earth  with  her  wand  of  famine.  She  rebelled  energetically 
against  the  shape  of  things,  and  at  last  Jupiter  came  to  the 
rescue  of  the  innocent  denizens  of  the  earth  as  a  profes- 
sional duty.  This  led  to  the  discovery  of  Proserpine.  From 
her  temple  at  Eleusis,  Deineter  who  was  the  protectress  of 
the  products  of  labor  made  things  uncomfortable  for  the  peo- 
ple who  were  in  her  husband's  care.  They  were  stricken 
with  malaria.  Contagion  spread.  The  ground  ceased  to 
produce  and  the  horrors  of  famine  engult'ed  them.  Men 
prayed,  sacrificed,  and  besought  their  patron  god?,  etch 
gens  for  itself,  and  urged  the  further  combination  of  gentile 
tribes  into  phratnes  to  no  effect  until  great  Jove  at  last  got 
Mercury  to  visit  Erebus  who  went  down  into  the  pagan  in- 
ferno where  Pluto  was  enjoying  the  charms  of  the  beautilul 
stolen  prize.  Thus  the  sly  god  got  found  out.  This  pagan 
inferno  was  Hades  where  Pluto  was  king.  He,  like  Satan 
was  cunning.  He  knew  that  by  tempting  her,  as  the  devil 
a  time  before  had  tempted  Eve,  he  could  induce  her  to  eat 
the  forbidden  fruit;-  this  time  a  pomegranite  seed.  Tin- 


,90  THE  MYSTERIES. 

warily  she  was  lured  into  the  temptation  which  cost  her  a 
fourth  part  of  each  year,  for  the  rest  of  her  immortal  exis- 
tence, in  the  infernal  abode  with  Pluto.  The  other  three- 
fourths  of  the  year,  however,  she  was  permitted  to  pass 
upon  earth. 

Such  is  the  rediculous  story  which  among  the  ancients, 
was  believed  at  the  point  of  the  poniard  or  under  penalty 
of  the  hemlock  for  at  least  two  thousand  years.  To  cavil 
with  its  austere  sanctity  wasa  heresy  costing  the  blasphem- 
ist  his  life  and  every  hope  of  immortality. 

Some  palliation  of  the  absurdity  of  this  sub-terrestrial 
abode  is  furnished  by  the  qualification  that  in  ancient  belief' 
the  world  was  flat,  not  round ;  and  between  the  two 
flat  surfaces  there  flowed  a,  river  with  whose  murky  waters 
Erebus  had  something  to  do.  On  the  other  side,  once 
there,  the  journeying  immortals  were  ushered  into  view  of 
the  indescribable  beatitudes  of  the  elysiurn.  This  gorgeous 
terra  incognita  was  not  to  be  reached  without  parsing  the 
terrible  cynocephalcus  or  many-htaded  watchdog  named 
Cerberus.  But  heaven  was  on  the  other  side.  Passage 
from  this  to  that  was  the  agony. 

Now  Ceres,  the  wife  of  the  mighty  Jupiter  and  mother 
of  the  lovely  Proserpine,  was  the  goddess  of  the  harvests. 
She  represented  the  cereals.  She  rode  on  a  jagatnatha  drawn 
by  dragons.  Her  brow  was  coronated  with  wreaths  of 
wheat.  This  rape  of  Proserpine  by  Pluto  on  the  ragged 
edge,  between  our  world  of  mortals  and  heaven  became  em- 
blematic of  the  agonies  of  winter; — from  autumn  wh«n  the 
the  wheat  was  sown,  then  the  cold  hyemal  gloom  of  gesta- 
tion in  the  dark  borderlands,  the  try  sting  place,  the  hyper- 
borean domain  of  hades ;  thence  over  the  half  congelated 
Styx  was  ferried  the  elastic  imagination  by  the  money  get- 
ting Charon,  and  behold,  the  vernal  raptures  of  heaven 
and  its  elysian  fields  appear,  full  of  springing  verdure,  the 
land  of  exquisite  delight! 

Such  was  the  Mythic  origin  of  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries. 
They  were  weird  forms  of  imagination,  assimilating  things 
real  with  things  unreal  and  working  them  up  into  maxims, 
emblems  and  creeds,  until  they  assumed  a  priesthood  and 
became  an  organization  of  men  and  women  knit  by  the  tie 
of  secrecy  which  nothing  but  the  long  fluctuations  of  pro- 
gress could  unbind. 


THE  MYSTERIOUS  RITES.  91 

What  the  actual  performance  was  at  the  penetralia  of  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries  nobody  knows.  We  know  that  they 
were,  in  their  prime,  symbolic  of  the  procreative  ernfrsry  of 
nature.  But  they  were  attended  with  certain  extraordinary 
rites.  What  were  these  rites?  They  were  also  conducive 
to  the  science  of  eternal  bliss. 

Who  secured  that  bliss  ?  In  answering  these  two  ques- 
tions we  must  return  to  the  kernel  of  our  theme — the  labor 
element.  To  the  first  one  of  them,  the  answer  is  va^ue. 
This  we  know,  that  the  rites  consisted,  of  dramatic  repre- 
sentations of  the  rape  of  Proserpine,  daughter  of  Ceres, 
goddess  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  of  the  fields,  and  labor, 
who  was  supposed  to  preside  over  the  cereals  and  other 
alimentation  of  man.  This  rape  was  performed  by  Pluto  ; 
and  in  its  emblematic  mysticisms  conveys  the  idea  not  only 
of  procreation  but  also  of  immortality  of  the  human  soul.14 
Whether  more  may  still  be  contributed  by  science  to  these 
strange  and  intensely  interesting  rites  is  yet  to  be  seen.  As 
late  as  1858  an  important  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries  has  been  contributed  in  the  discovery 
by  Vlastos,  at  a  village  named  Hagi-Constantios,  of  a  mar- 
ble slab  containing  an  inscription  including  rules  and  regu- 
lations of  the  society. 

The  first  day  of  the  nine  was  celebrated  perhaps  partly 
in  Athens  or  before  the  arrival  at  Eleusis.  On  the  march 
from  Athens  to  Eleusis  the  jealous  outcasts  who  were  ex- 
cluded from  the  raptures  of  the  scene,  always  ranged  thein- 
seh'Hg  in  hostile  array  and  belabored  the  marchers  with 
stones  and  clubs,  until  the  arrival  of  the  procession  at  the 
temple  of  Megaron.15 

The  second  day  was  called  alade  mustae.  It  was  the 
16th  of  Boedromion.  It  was  the  day  of  the  baptism,  being 
a  march  in  phalanx  to  the  sea.  The  procession  here  received 
their  baptism  and  purification.  The  third  was  the  day  of 
the  feasting.  On  the  fourth  day  the  poppey  seeds  were  ad- 

uUwaroff,  Eiisai  sur  ks  mysteres  d'  fclcusis,  3rd.  edition,  Paris,  1816;  Creu- 
zer's  Symbolik  und  Milltologie  der  alien  VolJcer ;  Preller,  Demeter  und  Persephone 
Hamburg,  1837. 

is  For  a  description  of  the  temple  of  Megaron  at  Eleusis,  see  Guhl  and  Ko- 
ner.  Life  of  Uie  Greeks  and  Romans,  translated  by  Hueffer,  pp.  48-9.  The  dark 
crypt  where  the  mysteries  were  perfor.ned  by  the  Muo-raywyot  also  the  initia- 
tions, was  under  ground.  Prom  Aristophanes  (Plato,  Bekk.  L.  ed.  Repub.  in  cap. 
xvii.).  we  learn  that  at  the  initiations  they  sacrificed  a  hog.  Aristophanes,  Pea, 
v.  37;;  5,  has  the  passage  hinted  at. 


92  THE  MYSTERIES. 

ministered.  This  rite  represented  the  stupefying  influence 
of  the  narcissus  under  which  the  maiden  Persephone  was 
stolen  away.  Orpheus  was  the  hierophant  or  priest  whose 
duty  it  was  to  initiate  eligible  candidates  into  the  mysteries. 
He  was  assisted  by  Erechtheis  daughter  of  Erechtheus  the 
smasher.  It  is  quite  likely  that  this  initiating  ceremony  was 
some  kind  of  violent  struggle.  It  must  have  been  attended 
by  oaths  of  fidelity  under  punishment  of  death  to  any  one 
who  divulged  the  secret.  The  initiation  took  place  in  the 
night  or  in  the  dark  crypt  of  the  temple,  as  the  dadouchos  01 
torch-bearer  was  in  attendance  and  his  torch-procession  rep- 
resented the  search  for  the  lost  daughter  of  Ceres.  This 
dadouchos  was  a  priest  holding,  as  Xenophon  tells  us,  the 
office  hereditarily  for  life  ;  and  at  his  decease  it  fell  to  an- 
other of  the  same  family,  the  Callidae.  There  was  also  a 
great  sacrificial  rite  performed,  who  or  what  the  victim,  is 
not  very  cloar ;  but  the  herald  of  the  sacrifice,  the  hiero- 
ceryx  was  always  there.16  The  new  initiates  were  not  per- 
mitted to  eat  flesh.  Even  the  hierophant  or  initiating 
priest  was  required  to  live  on  low  diet  that  passion  might 
be  restrained  during  the  ordeal.17  He  drank  a  decoction  of 
hemlock  which  had  the  effect  to  benumb  the  sensibilities,  a 
thing  exceedingly  appropriate  at  the  moment  of  this  ex- 
tatic  enjoyment,  where,  if  we  are  to  believe  Maury,  a  critic 
well  credited  and  much  quoted  on  this  subject,  all  around, 
the  voluptuous  nobles  of  both  sexes  take  their  turns.  The 
unscrupulus  dictionnaire  imiversel,1*  quoting  from  the  above 

i«  Creuzer,  Symbolik  und  Mythologie  cter  alien  Volker, 
11  Larousse,  Dictionnaire  Vniversel,  Art.  Les  Eleusiniens. 
is  "On  representait  dans  une  sorte  de  drame  hieratique  le  rapt  de  la  fille  Pro- 
serpine. On  passait  par  le  veritable  rencontre  du  sacrament."  Art.  Mys&.ret 
Eleusiniens.  For  an  account  of  this  extraordinary  symbolism  among  the  abor- 
iginal Americans  see  Bancroft's  Native  Races,  III.  p.  607.  Is  it  not  a 
possible  thing  that  this  symbolism  may  have  come  to  the  Aleuts  and  Pepiies 
from  custom  as  anci  nt  and  original  as  the  Eleusini  m  mysteries  ?  Ban- 
croft says:  "Tne  Pep  !es  abstained  from  their  w  ves  ***  *  previous  to 
sowing,  in  order  to  indulge  *  *  *  *  to  the  fullest  extent  on  the  eve  oi  that 
day,  evidently  with  a  view  to  initiate  or  urge  ihe  fecundating  powi  rs  of  na- 
ture. It  is  even  said  that  certain  persons  were  appointed  to  perform  the 
sexual  act  at  the  moment  of  planting  the  first  seed.  During  the  b  tter 
cold  nights  of  the  Hyperborean  winter,  the  Aleuts,  both  men  and  women  • 
joined  panels  'n  the  opi'n  air  and  whirled  periectJy  naked  round  certain 
idols,  lighted  only  by  the  pale  moon.  The  spirit  was  supposed  to  hallow 
the  dance  with  hi*  presence.  Thi-re  certninly  could  have  been  no  licentious 
element  in  this  ceremony,  lor  setting  aside  th<*  d.  scorn  fort  of  dancing  naked 
•with  the  thermometer  at  zero,  we  read  that  the  dancers  wen  blindfolded, 
and  that  decorum  was  strictly  enforced.  In  Nicaragua,  maize  sprinkled 
with  blood  drawn  from  the  genitals  wa<  regarded  a*  sacred  food-  Addi- 
tionally to  this  fact,  Bancroft  says,  (III,  p.  606,  quoting  Palacio,  Cm-la,  p.  84) 


WILD  SCRAMBLE  OF  INITIATION.  93 

author  has  no  hesitation  in  hinting  that  the  great  secret 
which  in  this  case  was  a  veritable  s>.iin-ti/ut  smtctorum,  was 
nothing  less  than  a  wild  scrambling  and  voluptuous  ero- 
tomania, such  as  might  happen  after  a  feast  of  wine. 
Within  these  penetralia  are  thus  said  to  have  happened  an 
exuberance  of  voluptuousness,  a  struggle  to  feign  escape,  an 
agony  and  a  glory  of  fullest  effulgence  emblematically  rep- 
resenting each,  in  turn,  the  process  of  nature  from  the  time 
seed  is  sown  in  autumn,  through  the  gloom  and  struggle  of 
winter  to  the  genial  spring  when  the  new  cereals  burst  from 
their  first  verdure,  to  their  harvest  for  the  nourishment  of 
man.  At  any  rate  it  is  ascertained  as  certain  that  there 
were  the  course  errante,  the  thalamos  or  pastos,  the  veil  of 
the  epoptai,19  and  all  solemnly  conducted  under  the  eye  of 
the  hierophant  and  Erechtheis,  the  priest  and  priestess  of 
the  mysteries.  Maim20  declares  that  an  entrance  into  the 
fourth  degree  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  not  only  secured 
to  the  initiate  a  positive  guaranty  against  the  dreaded  sup- 
plicium  of  Tartarus,  or  the  lower  bell,  but  it  insured  his 
felicity  in  this  lite  also.21 

This  sketch  of  the  great  Eleusinian  erames  may  appear  to 
the  reader  an  aberration  from  our  theme,  the  history  of  the 
laborers  of  ancient  times.  Not  so;  for  it  prepares  the  way 
to  the  student  of  history  from  a  sociologic  point  of  view,  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  grievances  the  poor  were  forced 
to  submit  to.  To  be  born  a  degraded  wretch,  a  mere  in- 
strument, usable  by  a  master  owning  one  as  a  thing  and 
handling  that  thing,  its  labor,  its  destiny  as  an  earthy  tool, 
.is  to  a  being  possessed  of  sensibility  and  reason,  a  grievance. 
It  is  slavery.  When  this  slave  grows  into  the  reasoning 
being  he  inwardly  rebels  against  the  men  and  the  institu- 
tion by  which  he  is  held  in  bondage.  He  is  wise  enough 
to  foresee  that  his  only  chances  of  wriggling  out  of  bond- 
age and  of  shearing  riddance  from  its  grievances  is  by  some 

of  the  aboriginal  Inhabitants  of  Honduras  and  Mexico :  "The  frequent  occur- 
rence of  the  cross,  which  has  sen  ed  in  so  many  and  such  widely  sej  anUe.d 
parts  of  the  eartn  a-  the  symbol  of  the  fe-gi  v  ng,  creative,  and  fertlliz'ng 
principle  in  nature,  is,  perhaps  one  of  the  most  striking  evidences  of  the  for- 
mer recognition  01  the  rec  procal  i  rinciplts  of  nature  by  the  Americans:  es- 
pecially when  we  remember  thut  the  Mexican  name  lor  the  emblem  tonaca- 
quahuitl .  sign  ties  tree  of  one  life  or  flesh. ' " 

19  Plato,  Phatdnu,  250,  c. ;    Bockh,  Inscr.  1. 

»  Maury,  Hittoire  det  Religv/ns  de  la.  Grece  Antique. 

11  Plato  tells  DS  of  the  suffering*  of  those  who  fail  to  obtain  purgation  at  the 
mysteries.  Republic,  lib.  II.  cap.  7.  L.  edition. 


*4  THE  MYSTERIES. 

institution  of  his  own;  some  court  of  appeal.  Political  in" 
stitutions  have  never  given  the  workingman  a  court  of  ap- 
peals. The  workingman  has  never  yet  had  a  hearing;*3 
and  his  reason  and  experience  both  point  to  the  terrible  fact 
that  no  hearing  is  possible  except  before  his  own  court  of 
appeals.  The  trade  union  is,  per  se,  a  true  court  of  appeals. 
We  have  seen  that  the  isolated  gens  or  family  of  nobles, 
when  threatened  by  the  dangers  of  a  growing  population, 
by  pirates,  by  slave  insurrections  and  feuds,  organized  them- 
selves \ntophratries,  curias,  kingdoms,  empires  and  thus 
found  means  of  submitting  their  grievances  to  courts  of  jus- 
tice for  settlement.  We  have  also  means  of  knowing  that 
the  laboring  element  had,  on  the  other  hand,  commenced  the 
organization  of  their  forces.  Of  the  former  there  is  suffi- 
cient proof;  of  the  latter,  as  students  in  the  phenomena  of 
ancient  social  life,  we  glean  here  and  there  fresh  proof  from 
inscriptions  on  tablets  of  stone  which  have  survived  the 
heedless  ages,  enabling  us  to  search  anew  the  hitherto 
vaguely  deciphered  meanings  of  expressions  of  the  ancient 
chroniclers,  finding  here  and  there  trophies  of  im  s'imable 
worth ;  all  going  to  show  that  the  ancient  laborers,  although 
hated  and  hunted  everywhere  and  very  early,  also  formed 
unions  and  other  courts  of  appeal  against  grievances.  We 
find  evidence  too,  that  these  organizations  commenced  very 
early — perhaps  coeval  with  the  political  organization  of  the 
nobles,  or  even  before. 

But  the  labor  movement  of  this  nineteenth  century  sur- 
rounded by  an  infinitely  more  luminous  moral  atmosphere, 
is  little  likely  to  understand  what  could  possibly  have  been 
the  grievance  of  the  ancient  working  people  arainst  the 
Eleusinian  games.  What  objections,  men  will  say,  could 
working  people,  ignorant  as  they  were  in  those  times,  have 
had  to  any  means  of  salvation,  soul  and  body,  from  suff  r- 
ing.23  This  brings  the  matter  pertinently  before,  us  !  The 
Eleusinian  mysteries  were  simply  a  religious  rite,  founded 
amid  the  igiior:inee  of  an  rmcient  period  of  our  forefathers' 
existence.  For  that  era  it  was  enlightened.  What  then, 

22  See  Bristed,  Resources  of  Oie  United  Slates,  p.  103,  ed.  1818  and  his  ref- 
erence to  the  dismal  failure  of  Lycurgus  in  sapping  the  family  of  its  loves  and 
in  encouraging  cruelty. 

;•  }',ri?t«d.  Mtm.  p.  392,  declares  that  all  natiotis  that  have  given  themselves 
np  to  erratic  irregularities  '-every  t-pcck^  of  profligacy"  have  done  so  as  a  con- 
sequence of  irr«T.-_'ior. 


CONFLICT  OF  CLASSES  AT  THE  CRUSADE.       95 

could  tbe  lowly  who  performed  the  world's  drudgery,  have 
encouraged,  in  opposition  to  it? 

Those  who  thus  interrogate,  do  so  in  the  absence  of  an 
•understanding  of  the  question.  The  laboring  classes,  though 
socially  degraded,  had  sensitive  feelings.  TLey,  like  their 
masters,  were  believers  in  the  common  religion  and  its 
forms.  They  cannot  be  blamed  for  that.  But  while  they 
saw  their  masters  favored  with  what  they  thought  to  be 
glories  of  religion,  they  found  themselves  utterly  excluded. 
No  one  at  Athens  who  was  a  slave,  or  his  descendant  could 
secure  admittance.  In  far  later  times  even  Christians  who 
were  the  descendants  of  slaves  and  consequently  mostly  of 
the  laboring  element,  were  denied  admittance.  The  gates, 
from  the  remotest  era  were  arbitrarily  closed  against  the 
workers  who  labored  to  produce  the  means  of  subsistence 
for  the  rich.  The  gorgeous  telesteria,  and  pilasters  of  the 
great  temple  of  Megaron,  were,  by  the  outcasts,  only  to  be 
gazed  upon  and  marveled  at  from  a  distance.  The  Calliades 
who  inherited  the  priesthood  were  Ji  of  noble  blood.  The 
common  rabble  might  get  into  the  caravan  and  through  the 
•  lust  and  din  march  unobserved  from  Athens  to  Eleusis. 
They  might,  as  in  the  procession  of  our  modern  camp- 
meeting,  become  inspired  with  the  occasion  and  imbued 
with  the  frenzy  of  faith,  or  even  dare  to  picture  themselves 
worthy  to  participate.  But  the  order  of  such  a  man's  rank 
was  soon  manifestsd  by  the  missiles,  hisses,  leers  and  attacks 
against  the  throng,  himself  included,  by  his  own  people  who 
gathered  on  the  wayside  and  threw  derision  and  vented 
spite  in  turbulence  and  often  force  against  all  the  crusaders 
alike.  On  his  arrival  his  case  became  hopeless,  for  a  rigid 
examination  by  officers  of  the  law  soon  detected  his  meaner 
rank  and  caused  his  expulsion.  None  but  the  darlings  of 
the  family  constituted  gentes  were  deemed  fit  for  admission 
to  the  holy  altar. 

We  mean  by  this  that  the  working  man  was  too  low  in 
the  estimation  of  the  devotees*of  the  Pagan  temple  to  be 
the  possessor  of  an  immortal  soul.24  Now  let  the  questioner 

24  Plato,  laws,  vi ;  Homer,  Odessey.  XVII.  c.  322,  323  ;  Horace,  Sermo,  I 
The  anc'.ent  idea  was  that  those  who  failed  to  get  through  the  flat  earth  from 
this,  the  mortal  side,  to  the  other  which  was  heaven,  Elysium,  perished.  Plato, 
the  great  idealist  wrote  (Gorgias,  168-73;  Phcedo,  77,  139;  Rep.  c.  13),  several 
intensely  interesting;  details  on  the  wanderings  and  groping*"  of  the  soul  on  whose 
waxen  tablet  is  indelibly  stamped  virtues  and  sins  for  Khadamanthus  and  the 


D6  THE  MYSTERIES. 

consider  that  these  outcasts  were  human  beings  of  the  same 
natural  stock,  against  whom  natural  laws  of  heredity  had 
made  no  discrimination;  that  they  were  as  bright,  as  clear, 
as  conscious,  as  well  developed  and  intelligent  as  their  mas- 
ters, were  often  their  masters'  children  ;  that  they  some- 
times rose  supremely  to  eminence  despite  the  pitiless  con- 
tempt and  mountain-like  obstacles  they  had  to  contend  with 
— let  the  objecter  observe  these  things  in  a  practical  way 
and  ho  will  be  furnished  a  true  key  to  one  cause  of  the  dis- 
satisfaction and  counter  organization  of  laborers  of  ancient 
times,  for  securing  a  court  that  might  hear  their  appeals. 
The  world  at  that  period  was  divided  into  two  classes,  the 
pious  and  the  impious,25  which  means  the  nobles,  born  of  the 
gods  and  entitled  to  go  back  to  the  gods,  and  the  earth- 
borns,  doomed  to  delve  for  their  masters  and  at  death  go 
back  to  the  earth  But  although  this  was  recognized  as  an 
old  belief  coming  from  the  institution  of  slavery  in  which 
the  most  liberal  of  nun  could  only  acknowledge  them  to- 
be  more  than  half  furnished  with  an  immortal  principle,26 
yet  the  intelligence  of  the  outcasts  rebelled  against  it. 
Would  not  men  under  such  circumstances  naturally  consider 
this  a  great  grievance  ?  In  our  own  times,  when  all  men 
are  admitted  to  be  born  equal — times  compared  with  those 
old  days  being  as  the  dazzle  of  noonday  to  the  obscurity  of 
morning  twilight — in  our  own  free  civilization  the  working 
people  combine  upon  economic  issues,  their  equality  of 
right  to  heaven  unquestioned;  but  those  people  imagined 
thirnselves  suffering  a  humiliating  grievance  when  the 
haughty  disclaimer  was  flung  into  their  face  that  they 
were  too  mean  to  expect  either  a  present  or  a  future.  If 
then,  they  gnashed  with  anguish,  or  even  vengeance  or  se- 
cretly took  measures  to  get  even  with  this  oppression,  it 
was  but  an  effort  to  express  a  grievance. 

We  make  these  statements  to  show  why  in  ancient  times 
the  labor  movement  took  different  phases  from  these  we  see 
on  every  hand  about  us.  \^e  do  this  because  we  are  about 
to  bring  forward  proof  that  there  existed  an  opposition  to 

other  post  m  Jtem  judges  to  examine.  Those,  each  as  slaves  supposed  to  have 
no  souls,  were  denied  even  a  burial.  They  were  burned. 

'.:">  Consult  chapter  3  of  Granier's  Hist,  da  Classes  Cmvri'eres,  pp.  48-71.  The 
critic  should  carefully  study  his  magnificent  array  of  notes. 

26  Plato,  Laws,  ix.  half  a  soul ;  Tim.  xviii. ;  Ixxi.  Homer,  Odessey,  lib  XVII ; 
Aristotle  declared  that  the  children  of  the  noble  masters,  who  were  born  slaves 
could  be  only  animated  beings. 


CLUES    OF   COMPARATIVE  TESTIMONY.         97 

the  whole  philosophy  based  on  the  slave  code  and  to  the 
religion  that  denied  the  equality  of  man.  The  first  thing 
is  to  produce  proof  that  the  working  people  resented  their 
exclusion  from  the  Eleusinian  mysteries. 

To  do  this  it  will  be  necessary  to  indulge  in  a  little  circum- 
locution, as  the  evidence  is  very  vague  and  indirect.  It  is 
in  tact,  new  ground.  However  much  there  may  lie  con- 
cealed in  support  of  this  important  fact  which  we  propose 
to  establish,  it  must  be  contessed  that  such  evidence  lies  in- 
moldering  inappreciation  and  neglect.  Did  the  laboring 
or  outcast  element  of  that  ancient  era  resent  and  combine 
against  the  system  that  ignored  them  soul  and  body? 

We  have  proof  that  they  did  ;  but  in  adducing  this  prooi 
hold  claim  to  the  right  to  draw  inferences  from  the  exist- 
ence and  career  of  as  many  different  forms  of  labor  and 
socialistic  organizations  as  we  can  hunt  out  from  the  gloom 
of  tyranny  and  oblivion.  With  this  range  of  the  whole 
field  assumed  to  be  conceded,  we  shall  produce  before  the 
critic  what  we  can  find  of  all  sorts  of  organizations  bearing 
upon  the  point,  and  where  the  link  of  evidence  becomes 
broken  in  the  chain  of  chronology,  shall  feel  perfectly  ex- 
onerated for  drawing  upon  the  plausibly  imaginative  in 
order  to  restore  that  link.  The  fact  that,  as  an  anthropo- 
logist we  are  undertaking  to  write  a  history  of  ethics  from 
a  standpoint  of  sociology,  entitles  us  to  a  right  to  scientifi- 
cally use  all  the  strategy  of  comparative  testimony.  By 
these  remarks  is  meant  the  trade  union,  the  co-operative  so- 
ciety, the  burial  society,  the  society  for  social  amusement 
among  the  lowly,  the  agrarian  foment,  the  social  wars, 
even  to  some  extent  the  sophist  and  Pythagorean  social- 
ism, the  ascetic  Essenianism  and  finally  the  grand  culmi- 
nation of  all,  Christianity.  All  these  strictly  belong  to 
the  trae  social  history  of  the  ancient  lowly ;  for  all  their 
membership  was  originally  of  freedmen  and  slave  origin. 

In  order  to  answer  the  question  properly  it  is  necessary 
to  glance  a  moment  at  the  social  history  of  the  Grecian 
peninsula.  As  early  as  1055  B.  C.  there  had  been  a  hor- 
rible murder  or  massacre  of  the  Helots  or  slaves  and  their 
descendants  at  Sparta.  It  was  in  the  mythical  ages ;  but 
great  events  even  among  the  poor  and  ignorant  have  a 
certain  faculty  of  transmitting  their  history  through  tradi- 
tion. It  has  come  down  to  us  through  poetry  and  song,, 


98  THE   MYSTERIES. 

through  hints  of  ancient  history,  through  honest  Plutarch, 
and  we  are  assured  as  to  the  assassinations  which  were 
from  time  to  time  perpetrated  upon  the  defenseless  work- 
ing people  of  that  time.  We  also  know  that  these  poor  crea- 
tures who  were  to  the  body  politic  of  those  people  what  the 
bones  are  to  the  body,  had  unions  for  self  protection. 
Still  further  it  is  known  that  they  enjoyed  the  right  to 
organize.  It  has  been  ascertained  that  the  slaves  them- 
selves actually  possessed  protective  societies27  and  consid- 
ering the  free  and  intelligent  classes  whence  they  were 
derived  it  is  quite  natural  that  they  should  have  possessed 
them.  Especially  is  this  possible  among  the  helots  or 
slaves  of  Lacedsemon.  They  were,  as  we  have  seen,  slaves 
by  inheritance,  often  their  wealthy  masters'  own  children. 
They  were  prisoners  of  war,  forcibly  reduced  to  that 
wretched  condition  by  being  beaten  in  the  war  with 
Helos  ;  and  later  in  the  great  Messenian  war,  when  Sparta 
became  the  victor  in  that  conflict,  those  brave,  proud,  in- 
genius  Greeks  along  with  all  of  the  two  above  mentioned 
classes,  were  humiliated,  subjugated,  degraded  to  the 

zi  It  IB  known  that  they  did  at  a  later  period ;  Cf .  Lliders,  Die  Dionysischen 
~ jr«nztfer,  S.  22  &  47.  This  author  mentions  a  very  interesting  inscription 
(Bockh,  Corpus  Infcriptionum  Grcecarum.  I.  p.  417),  that  has  come  to  li'jht, 
at  or  near  Pi-rganiua,  which  shows  that  slave  belonged  to  the  eranoi  or  union 
of  mechuni  s.  On  page  4(>,  Liiders  gays  "Bezeichnend  fur  den  Character 
dea  Vereinswesens  der  spiiteren  Zeit  ist  es,  tlafs  auch  Sclaven  nicht  allein 
an  einem  Eranos  slch  betheili«en,  sondern  auch  unter  sich  ein  religiose-  Col- 
legium mitUnierstutzungsca.'-se  bilrlen  druiten.  Fur  den  von  Sclaven  benutz- 
ten  Eranos  bieten  zahlreiche  Be  spiele  die  imlangst  in  Delphi  gefnndenen 
Freilsssungsurkunden.  Das  Collegium  Khodisctier  Sclaven  zu  Ehreu  des 
Zeus  AtabyriOB  (Aibc 'ATa/Bvpioorai  Ttif  ras  irdAco?  iovAwi'").  Soalsoinj'.  47, 
Luders  further  corroborates  the  facts  that  slaves  belonged  to  the  union*:  "Das' 
ab'-r  Vereine  von  einigi  r  Bedeutung  auch  Sclaveu  zur  Bed  enunir  batten,  ist 
naturlich;  Kraton  hatte  als  Pr.e  ter  des  von  ilim  ge-tiftetPn  Collegium*  der 
Aitiilisten  tertamentariscn  dem  Thiasos  nnter  anderem  Tempel- nrul  HMIIS- 
gerath  auch  Sclaven  vennacht.  Anf  den  Reliefs  au<  Ni'iia  haben  w  r  in  den 
um  das  Mahl  beschaftigten  und  in  den  Mi  sidrenden  Personen  Sclaveu  er- 
kannt."  On  page  22,  Luders  has  already  mentione.1  this  Kraton,  in  proof  of 
the  membership  as  slaves:  "Kraton,  gunstllng  der  Attalen  und  hochanire- 
whnes  M'tglied  und  Priester  der  grossen  Synoiius  Diony>ischer  Techniten  in 
Teoi,  batte  nach  seiner  glazenden  Aufn»hme  an  deai  Hofe  von  Pergmnos  dort 
ans  ot'm  Verbande  derKiinstler  einen  Verein  von  Thia-oten  zu  Ehren  <ler 
Perimmenischen  Kftnige  gestiftet, dessen  Mitglieder  sich  ATTaAi<rrcu  nennen." 
Farther  on  in  'ho  same  page,  he  shows  that  Kraton  made  the  union  a  present 
of  his  own  slaves  when  he  died ;  probably,  as  Foucart  shows  that  they  some- 
times did,  (Him.  turl'affranchissement  des  esclaves par  forme  de  ventt  a  wit  divinitf 
p.  28),  in  order  to  set  them  free.  "In  seinem  Testaments  endlich.  von  dem 
uns,  BO  wie  von  jenem  Briefe,  ein  Fragment  erhalten  i8t,  vermacht  er  dem 
Verbande  eine  ansehnli  he  Geldsumme,  damit  »ie  aus  den  Zinsen  ihre  Op- 
jfer  und  lestlichen  Zusammenkiinfte  bestritten  den  Statnten  gemafs  (icat>ui« 
ct-  T7)  fo/iodca-i'a  irpot  e/cao-Tuf  Siareraxtv).  Das  Mobiliar  des  Verein  hauses,  da« 
G»  scbjrr  zu  den  Opfern  und  Mahlzeiten  und  der  feierllchen  Pompe,  das  in 
dem  erhaltenen  Theile  des  Testament  aufgezahlt  wlrd,  hinterUeas  erdem 
Verein  nebst  einer  Anzahl  Sclaven  zu  dauerndem  Bt^itz. 


PROOF  THAT  SLAVES   WERE  ORGANIZED.     99 

same  servile  condition.  But  although  the  body  was 
bowed  down  to  servitude,  the  mind  remained  to  play  its 
fancies,  to  plot  and  plan,  to  concoct  in  secret;  and  lan- 
guage was  also  theirs — a  facile  tongue — rich  in  versatility 
of  idiom ;  full  of  thrilling  nuance  and  touching  charm. 
The  powerful  physique  was  there,  the  love  of  adventure, 
the  Greek  cravings  for  a  better  lot,  with  fortitude,  dash 
and  intrepidity  which  form  the  gallant  characteristics  of 
that  grand  people — all  these  the  workingmen  of  high  an- 
tiquity possessed.  More  than  this,  they  had  intelligence 
enough  to  know  that  the  cruelties  they  suffered  were  un- 
just. If  then,  we  hear  through  the  scintillations  of  the 
fragments  that  there  were  uprisings,  social  turmoils  and 
wars,  we  know  them  to  have  been  the  natural  outcome  of 
such  a  state  of  things,  and  nothing  to  be  wondered  at. 

Now  we  have  promised  to  adduce  proof  that  there  were 
unions  of  Greeks  who  resisted  the  public  insult  of  the 
great  Eleusinian  mysteries  which  denied  to  the  slaves  and 
their  descendants,  the  freedmen,  all  hope  of  happiness 
Jiere  and  hereafter.**  We  simply  desire,  in  order  to  clear 
up  the  vagaries,  to  consider,  in  our  inquiry,  the  whole  of 
Greece  at  a  time. 

Scanning  the  social  condition  of  the  slaves  from  evidence, 
we  find  plenty  of  assurance  that  they  belonged  to  the 
state.  The  state  leased  them  out.  The  state,  from  the 
primitive  family,  was  organized  for  purposes  of  defense.8* 
The  family  first  possessed  the  slave.  Slaves  became  more 
numerous  than  families.  They  did  all  the  labor  and  were 
allowed  no  privileges.  So  they  rebelled.  Some  ran  away, 
hid  in  fastnesses,  became  dangerous  brigands.  They  be- 
came organized.  Then  the  rich  families  organized  them- 
selves into  fratries  and  other  forms.  As  the  slaves  had 
belonged  to  the  families,  so  now  they  belonged  to  the  fra- 
tries. This  means  that  as  the  slaves  were  before  private 
property,  so  now  they,  or  some  of  them,  became  public 

M  Plutarch,  Theseus,  spenks  of  the  demagogue  Menestheus  who.  about  1180 
before  Christ  rose  np  airaiiist  the  tyranny  of  the  aristocrats  at  Athens,  with  the 
claim  that  the  peepte  also  bad  a  right  to  be  initiated  into  the  Eleusinian  myster- 
ies. Even  at  that  remote  period  there  must  have  been  between  the  poor  and 
lowly  and  the  rich  and  lordly,  great  struggles  regarding  thii  grievance. 

'f>  Morgan.  Ancient  Society,  chap,  ii  ;  Drupiann,  Arbeittr  und  C'ommunwten 
in  (triechenland  und  Rom,  IS  ii'4;  "In  Epidamnig  gab  es  keine  Hanwerfcerals  di* 
bffentlichen  Sklaven.";  "Das  Handwerk  iat  daher  verrufen  und  verathtet."  S. 
26;  Arutotle,  iWitic,  ii.  4,  SI  13. 


100  THE   MYSTERIES. 

property,  This  was  a  political  sequence  upon  the  organ- 
ization of  the  families  into  fratries  and  the  consolidation 
of  the  fratries  into  the  state.  Of  course  the  rich  family 
still  kept  as  many  servants  as  it  needed;  but  large  num- 
bers remained  with  the  public  domain.  These  *tate  slaves 
formed  into  organizations.30  From  the  earliest  mythical 
accounts  down  to  58  years  before  Christ  we  find  evidences 
abundantly  proving  that  the  law  gave  work-people  the 
especial  right  to  organize  not  only  in  Rome  but  also  in 
Greece.  The  celebrated  Law  of  the  Twelve  Tables  which 
specified  the  manner  of  organization  of  workingmen,  is 
declared  by  the  commentators  to  be  a  translation  from  the 
Greek  laws  of  Solon.81 

The  Twelve  Tables  clearly  set  down  the  arrangement, 
ordaining  that  the  trade  unions  should  remain  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  the  state.  The  unions  fcllowt  d  the  law, 
and  Gains  wrote  the  law  thus  fixed,  so  plainly  thot  Justi- 
nian incorporated  it  into  the  digest.  A  fragment  of  the 
law  of  Solon  *"  shows  plainly  that  trades  unions  were  com- 
mon and  tolerated  by  that  lawgiver.  A  strong  cumulative 
evidence  that  the  slaves  belonging  to  the  state  were  enor- 
mously organized  into  protective  association,  is  found  in 
the  fact  that  they  succeeded  in  their  insurrections  against 
the  masters.  An  important  example  of  these  slave  in- 
surrections is  given  of  the  miners.33  In  Attica  they  once 
rebelled,  and  marched  upon  the  town  near  the  silver 
mines,  occupying  the  castle  of  Sunion.  These  people 
were  called  "  thetes"  or  "demoes." 

In  Athens  the  fact  of  their  manumission  did  not  make 
them  anything  above  mere  earth-boras.  They  could  de- 
velop genius,  become  teachers,  philosophers,  poets  and 
business  men.  Sometimes  they  rose  to  positions  of  wealth, 
even  themselves  becoming  master-builders,  and  some  of 
them  were  the  greatest  sculptors  and  painters  the  world 
ever  produced;  but  the  taint  of  servility  was  born  in  their 
blood.  Phidias  the  most  celebrated  sculptor,  ancient 
or  modern,  was  a  descendant  of  the  slaves.  He  was 

so  Ltldere,  Dionysdiischen  Kimstttr.  S.  46;  Wesoher-Foucart  Inscriptions  de 
Delphes,  pp  89,  107,  139,  244,  giving  abundant  evidence 

-..Gains,  Digest,  lib  XI.VII   tit  xxii    lesr.  4;    Plutarch,  Numa. 

MGranier,   Hiskrire  ilex  Ctssnet  Ouvrih-es  <£c    pp.  283-7. 

33  Consult  the  Hncycloppd'as,  Articles  on  Slavery;  also  for  instances  of 
Asiatic  Blaveo  joinins  the  rebellion  of  Aristonicus,  see  Infra,  chapter  ix. 


GEN.Ui    OF   THE   FOREFATHERS.  101 

really  a  freedman.  He  built  the  propylae  of  the  Parthe- 
non, and  with  his  skillful  hand  made  the  beautiful  and  co- 
lossal statues  of  Athena  and  the  wonderful  chryselephan- 
tine statue  of  the  Olympian  Zeus.  Parrhasius,  one  of  the 
finest  painters,  who  transmitted  to  the  Italian  schools  the 
art  of  delineations,  was,  in  all  probability  a  freedman. 
Demosthenes  in  his  terrible  vehemence  pronounced 
JEschines  a  son  of  a  freedman.  That  alone  probably  had 
a  strong  tendency  toward  deciding  the  great  case  against 
JEschines,  whose  mighty  genius,  though  the  outcome  of 
lowly  parentage,  well  nigh  brought  to  the  scaffold  the 
greatest  orator  of  ancient  or  modern  days.  In  these 
bright  years  of  our  nineteenth  century,  such  scurrile  slurs 
as  Demosthenes  hurled  against  his  enemy,  which  were 
used  to  incite  contempt,  would  be  thought  an  insult  upon 
the  act  of  labor.  Innumerable  were  the  marvels  of  genius 
among  the  Greeks,  and  as  innumerable  the  deprecatory 
innuendos,  the  cowardly  jealousies,  the  surreptitious  re- 
venges that  were  seated  and  sealed  in  the  accident  of 
birth.  Much  of  the  greater  arid  lesser  broils  may  be  at- 
tributed to  it. 

Our  object  in  this  divergence  is  to  give,  from  a  reading  of 
the  pa?t,  in  the  spirit  of  sociological  research,  the  fact  that 
the  lowly  of  the  Greek  population  were  organized  to  a  large 
extent,  against  this  scathing  grievance,  the  taint  of  labor. 

That  the  slaves  belonged  in  great  numbers  to  the  state 
is  seen  by  any  one  who  consults  the  law  of  Lycurgus.*4 
It  must  be  most  distinctly  understood  that  the  great  law 
of  Lycurgus  was  intended  only  for  the  development  and 
enjoyment  of  the  two  favored  classes  of  Lacedaemonian 
society — the  Spartans  and  Perio3ci.  He  belonged  to  the 
Eurystheneid  hue  of  Spartan  kings.  An  aristocrat  by 
birth  and  according  to  Herodotus,  living  about  a  thous- 
and years  before  our  era,  he  would  not  permit  the  third 
class  or  working  people  even  to  taste  of  the  advantages 
of  his  system — otherwise  almost  a  perfect  socialism  if  we 
except  its  heathenish  immodesty  and  blood-thirst.  The 
land  he  divided  into  9,000  lots  for  the  Spartans  who  were 

wPlutarcn,  Lycurgus:  "It  is  not  worth  while  to  take  much  pains  as  to  riches 
since  they  are  of  no  account;  and  the  Helots  (slaves)  who  tilled  the  ground, 
were  answerable  for  the  produce  mentioned  "  And  a  few  lines  farther  on :  "So 
much  beneath  them  they  estimated  every  thought  of  mechanic  arts  as  well  aa 
wish  for  riches." 


102  THE  MYSTERIES. 

fewest  in  numbers*  30,000  lots  for  the  Periceci  or  Laconi- 
ans  who  were  more  numerous  in  proportion.  The  poor 
Helots  or  work-people  and  descendants  from  slaves  got 
nothing  although  their  proportionate  numbers  were  three 
to  one.  This  hegemony  of  Greece  incorporated  into  it- 
self the  most  degrading  slavery  to  be  found  in  the  world's 
history.  Lycurgus  although  to  his  favorite  people  per- 
haps in  many  respects  a  model,  was  towards  those  he  ar- 
rogantly assumed  to  be  beneath  him — the  laboring  class — 
the  model  of  a  monster.  His  system  of  the  ambuscade3' 
disgusted  even  Plato,  who  was  a  believer  in  slavery. 
Plato's  great  heart  turned  away  in  loathing  from  such  a 
stupendous  abomination.  The  ambuscade,  a  diabolism 
that  should  blacken  any  age,  could  exist  only  in  a  country 
where  calm,  cold-blooded  contempt  gets  the  better  of  the 
warmer  emotions.  In  looking  over  the  lofty  but  ghastly 
eloquence  of  Cicero,  whose  implacable  contempt  for  the 
working  people  in  later  times  cost  him  his  life,  we  have 
the  nearest  parallel  to  inveterate  hate. 

No  historigrapher  can  hereafter  afford  to  neglect  1he 
inhuman  butcheries  perpetrated  by  the  ambuscade  ;  since 
they  differed  from  the  massacres  of  Stone  Henge,  of  Saint 
Bartholomew,  of  the  Incas,  of  the  Mamelukes,  of  Wyoming, 
in  being  consummated  at  moments  of  prof oundest  peace ;. 
at  moments  when  the  innocent  victims  were  wrapt  in  the 
fiendish  assassins'  service,  sweating  in  the  fields,  at  the 
mill,  with  the  flocks,  on  the  provision  market,  producing,, 
garnering  and  distributing  the  food,  the  clothing,  the 
shelter  which  their  heartless  butchers  were  consuming 
without  gratitude,  to  invigorate  their  veins  whereby  to 
accomplish  such  treacheries ! 

Just  before  reciting  these  horrors  let  us  revert  to  the 
victim.  He  was  primarily  the  slave  by  the  ancient  family 
law  of  entail  and  primogeniture.  The  shackles  of  abject 
servitude  were  first  inherited  through  the  humiliating  law 
of  entails  which  fixed  the  heir  of  the  patrimony,  the  first 
born  son,  as  a  lord  to  be  served,  worshiped,  immortalized, 
and  blessed;  his  children  to  be  chattels,  subjected,  forced 
to  labor,  distrusted,  branded  and  cursed.*4 

35  For  more  on  the  Crypt  «»a,  see  Plutarch,  Lycurgus. 

acFuutel  fie  Ooulanges,  CM  Antique,  livre  2,  La  Famitte ;    Granier  de  CM» 
utrnac,  Jfisttoire  des  Classes  Ouvriitres,  chap.     8, 


FLOGGED    ONCE  A   DAT.  103 

Next,  after  tins  primary  calamity  came  the  slaves  of  war; 
wliole  communities  taken,  carried  off  by  the  captors  and 
degraded  to  slavery  and  its  concomitant  curse,37  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Messenian  war  with  Sparta.  Lastly  the  slave 
trade.  Three  great  ancient  systems.  Under  these  he 
suffered  torments  which  no  pen  of  mortal  will  ever  por- 
tray. He  was  known  by  his  dress,  sometimes  going  in 
rags  equivalent  to  nudity,  in  gangs  under  a  brutal  boss. 
Sometimes,  in  this  condition,  man  along  with  woman, 
destitute  of  means  of  being  decent,  dragging  the  long 
day  among  the  fields  and  flocks ;  dogskin  hats  and  sheep- 
skin breeches,  which  survive  longest  the  wear  of  the 
wearer,  and  often  totally  nude.  They  were  each  flogged 
once  a  day  as  an  admonition,  though  having  committed 
no  offence  and  forbidden  to  learn  the  manly  arts.  They 
were  obliged  to  stoop  and  crouch  in  piteous  obsequious- 
ness to  these  drivers  lest  jealous  tyranny  interpret  their 
upright  posture  to  be  an  assumption  of  the  estate  of  man- 
hood.38 Such  was  the  condition  of  the  workingman  of 
Sparta  which,  above  all  other  countries  whereof  we  dis- 
cover a  historic  trace,  was  the  most  pitiless  toward  the 
slave.  And  the  most  shameful  phase  of  this  confession  is 
the  cruel  fact  that  all  this  was  precept  of  the  Lycurgan 
law! 

We  must  return  to  the  cryptia  or  ambuscade  of  the  law 
of  Lycurgus.  These  Helots  or  working  people,  state-slaves 
of  Lacedsemon.  lived  and  performed  much  of  their  labor 
in  the  rural  districts.  The  law  of  Lycurgus  provided  for 
the  election,  annually,  of  five  magistrates  or  overseers, 
called  ephori,  whose  function  was  to  strengthen  and 
heighten  the  principles  of  democracy  that  the  happiness 
of  the  people  might  be  equalized.  Plutarch's  doubts  as  to 
whether  Lycurgus  instituted  the  ephori  seem  to  be  dis- 
pelled by  his  acknowledg«mv-.ut  that  both  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle thought  so.39  One  of  the  functions  of  this  institu- 

37  JElian,  Hisloria  Varia.  I.  i. ;  Athensens.  Deipnosofthi^v.  vl ;  Xenophon 
MfmorribUia,  3,  6,  §  2  ;  Bucher.  Aufsttinde  der  unfreien  Arbeiter  S.  36  ;  All 
of  these  authors  also  Livy  give  evidence  on  the  enslavment  of  men  taken  in  war, 

:«  "The  Ephori  indeed,  declared  wr«r  against  them!  Asainsr,  whom?  Why 
poor,  naked  slave?  "ho  tilled  their  lands,  drees' d  their  food  and  did  all  those 
offices  for  them  w  hich  they  were  too  proud  to  do  for  themselves  "  Cf.  Pintarch, 
Lyi.-urg^.  note  in  i.iiijghorne'*  tr. 

39Piato,  Republic,  Diiterlatim  on  Lacedfemon;  Aristotle,  Politic,  v.  ascribe! 
their  origin  to  a  later  period  of  the  law's  existence  than  that  of  the  Lawgiver** 
ifetime.  Nevenheless  they  are  the  outcome  of  the  great  law  of  Lycurgus. 


104  THE  MYSTERIES. 

tion  for  the  promotion  of  popular  democracy  was  to  see 
that  the  ambuscade  was  well  carried  out.  All  that  was 
meant  by  the  term  people  was  the  people  who  owned  the 
land,  either  by  parcel  or  as  government  property  together 
with  the  slaves  and  other  chattels  of  that  property.  This 
means  that  the  really  worthless  and  indolent  non-pro- 
ducers were  the  people.  The  useful  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants, the  working  population,  were  entirely  ignored, 
contemptously  denied  every  vestige  of  participation  in 
this  much  boasted  government,  although  there  exists  abun- 
dance of  evidence  that  they  were  naturally  intelligent  and 
as  worthy  as  their  masters,  of  enjoying  the  product  of 
their  labor  in  this  state  of  democracy. 

Instead  of  this,  the  ephori  ordained  that  a  certain  num- 
ber of  young  men  from  among  the  aristocrats  should,  at 
their  command,  arm  themselves  with  daggers,  and  pro- 
vided with  a  sort  of  knapsack  with  provisions,  secretly 
sneak  off  into  the  mountains  and  jungles.40  The  distances 
these  legalized  assassins  were  required  to  go  varied  very 
much.  These  youths  had  governors  who  had  the  power 
to  order  them  to  do  as  the  ephori  should  determine.  The 
governors,  whenever  the  ephori  voted  a  new  slaughter  of 
the  working  people,  called  together  the  smartest  and  most 
able  bodied  of  these  young  men,  armed  them  with  dag- 
gers, sharpened  and  gleaming  for  the  occasion.41  At  the 
same  time  the  inhuman  overseers  whom  we  may  with  due 
propriety  call  bosses,  in  accord  with  a  technical  significa- 
tion fully  adopted  by  the  prevailing  labor  movement  of 
to-day,  were  ordered  to  see  to  it  that  the  toilers  should 
be  without  arms  or  means  of  any  kind  with  which  to  de- 
fend themselves  when  suddenly  set  upon  by  the  amateur 
Spartan  soldier,  dagger  in  hand.  With  all  these  odds 
against  them  the  poor,  unsuspecting,  hah*  naked  working 
people  were  driven  by  the  bosses,  as  usual  into  the  field, 
the  mill,  the  kitchen  and  the  various  places  of  service 
wherever  required  to  eke  the  drudgery  of  a  sun-and-sun 
summer  day  of  toil.  Meantime  the  assassins  were  laying 
in  wait  in  the  vicinity  for  their  prey.  It  was  a  manly 
Bport!  The  law  of  Lycurgus  made  more  compulsory 
than  any  other  code  on  earth,  the  provisions  of  manly 

«« Plutarch.  Lycurgus,  where  these  horrors  are  related. 
4iThncvdide8,  De  Bella  Peu>ponne*iaai.  liber  IV.  80. 


THE  ASSASSINS  SPORT.  105 

/gymnastics.  This  was  one  of  them.  It  was  sport !  **  By 
the  exercise  of  this  manly  sport  the  youth's  blood  flowed 
stronger,  his  muscles  grew,  his  body  waxed  athletic;  he 
digested  with  a  better  relish  the  food  his  blood-begrimed 
victim  had  in  the  morning  prepared  for  him  before  his 
murderous  \\eap  on  slashed  and  pierced  her  gentle  heart. 
We  quote  from  Plutarch.  No  one  ever  speaks  illy  of  Plu- 
tarch. His  means  of  knowing  facts  were  better  than  ours, 
and  his  kind  nature  even  in  the  barbarous  age  in  which 
he  lived,  revolted  against  the  consistency  of  such  a  democ- 
racy. He  says:41 

"  The  governors  of  the  youth  ordered  the  shrewdest  of 
them  from  time  to  time  to  disperse  themselves  in  the 
country,  provided  only  with  daggers  and  some  necessary 
provisions.  In  the  day  time  they  hid  themselves  and  rested 
in  the  most  private  places  they  could  find ;  but  at  night 
they  sallied  out  into  the  roads  and  killed  all  the  Helots 
they  could  meet  with.  Nay,  sometimes  by  day,  they  fell 
upon  them  in  the  fields  and  murdered  the  ablest  and 
strongest  of  them."  ** 

These  are  specimens  of  authentic  history  of  the  lowly 
as  they  have  passed  through  a  transition  period  of  un- 
numbered centuries,  from  abject  slavery  to  a  Christian 
democracy  which  recognizes  all  men  as  equal  and  provides 
for  them  precepts  for  equal  enjoyment.  But  before  quit- 
ting these  chambers  of  cruelty  and  carnage  it  remains  our 
sad  duty  to  recount  what  modern  historians  well  know, 
but  seldom  divulge — the  great  assassination.  It  happened 
during  the  Peloponnesian  war.  This  account  comes  from 
the  trusted  and  reliable  historian  Thucydides,  who  lived 
at  the  time  and  made  it  his  business  for  many  years  to 
keenly  observe  what  transpired,  during  that  long  and 
tedious  struggle  of  seven  and  twenty  years.  The  story  is 
briefly  told  by  him.  Dressed  and  reflected  upon  in  our 
own  way  it  appears  in  substance  as  follows: 

During  the  great  Peloponnesian  war,  one  of  the  most 
renowned  in  antiquity,  the  forces  of  the  army  sometimes 
became  decimated  and  it  was  necessary  to  recruit  them 

**K.  O.  Mtiller  in  Die  Dorter,  denies  thi-:  bnt  tfce  evidence  is  too  strong 
mgainst  him.  Again,  Miiller's  opinion  regarding  their  "aboriginal  descent"  has 
been  completely  overturned. 

**  Plutarch  s  Lycuryus. 

44/cton;    Cf.  tr.  of  the  Langhorne?     Vol.  I.    pp.  03  4, 


106  THE   MYSTERIES. 

from  whatever  source  possible.  When,  therefore,  there 
were  no  more  soldiers  to  be  had  from  among  the  Spartans 
and  Periceci  or  recognized  citizens,  the  military  authori- 
ties were  obliged  to  call  out  the  laboring  men  who,  at  the 
time  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  were  three  to  four  times 
more  numerous  than  the  non-laboring  class.  This  in  an- 
cient times  was  always  a  humiliation.  War  was  the  noble 
occupation,  labor  the  ignoble  one.  To  ask  a  person  in 
disgrace  to  assist  the  nobles  out  of  trouble  was  equivalent 
to  humiliating  confession.  If  then,  the  laborer,  in  a  great 
emergency  was  marshaled  to  the  rescue,  the  only  way  to 
blot  out  the  stain  such  a  humiliation,  entailed  was  to  en- 
franchize this  warrior  from  social  thraldom  and  thus 
stanch  the  blot  by  elevating  him  from  the  fetters  of  bond- 
age. If  further,  the  bondsman  after  performing  the  ser- 
vice manfully,  redeeming  his  masters  by  bravery  and  valor, 
earning  his  liberty  by  saving  their  lives  and  preserving1 
their  realm  from  wreck,  could  be  secretly  murdered  after 
such  decree  of  manumission  was  administered,  it  would 
save  the  proud  masters  many  a  disagreeable  jeer,  painful 
wince  and  blush  of  shame  when  reminded  that  their  ex- 
istence and  happiness  was  due  to  the  daring  and  fidelity 
of  a  hated  menial  who  still  shocked  their  pride  with  his 
presence. 

It  came  to  pass  that  this  humiliating  expedient  was  in- 
dispensible  to  save  the  nation  from  irretrievable  ruin  and 
thousands  of  the  enslaved  laborers  were  marshaled  and 
drilled  into  the  army.  They  were  not  allowed  to  bear 
heavy  arms;  that  would  have  been  a  still  greater  disgrace. 
So  they  bore  light  arms  and  bore  them  gallantly.  After 
serving  through  many  a  tedious  campaign  probably  of 
years'  duration,  after  winning  victories  in  many  a  skirm- 
ish and  in  many  a  field  and  earning  the  full  measure  of  their 
promised  reward,  after  seeing  the  Lacedaemonian  armies 
victorious  at  every  hand  and  the  great  war  prosperously 
advancing  toward  triumph  for  the  southern  Greeks,  there 
were  brought  before  the  military  tribunal  for  dismissal 
over  two  thousand  workingmen  who  had  proved  truest 
in  arms  and  been  adjudged  worthiest  of  liberty.  Their 
faithful  hands  had  valiantly  borne  the  standard  of  an  un- 
grateful country.  Their  strong  hearts  had  never  flinched 
either  before  their  sullen  discipline  or  the  cleaving-  blades 


MURDER    OF   2,000    FIELD-HANDS.  10T 

of  the  combatants.  Their  fiery  zeal  and  fearless  blows 
h  ad  won  the  victory  and  earned  the  liberty  which,  before 
this  august  council,  proudly  they  heard  pronounced.  Over 
2,000  slaves  who  toiled  for  masters  were  thus  regularly 
enfranchised  and  marched  into  a  temple  or  other  enclo- 
sure or  field — no  mortal  knows  or  ever  will  know  what — 
to  take  the  oath  of  freedom. 

But  the  anxious  wives  and  children  waited  and  wept 
long  before  these  brave  men  came  to  gladden  their  hovel 
homes.  For  here  we  come  to  the  recital  of  one  of  the 
darkest  pages  of  history.  Still  more  painful  is  this  page 
because  blotted.  Too  foully  blotted  for  perusal ;  since, 
aside  from  a  ghastly  blood-  stain  that  smirches  its  story  in 
mysterious  gloom,  it  is  written  in  the  almost  undecipher- 
able hieroglyphs  of  reticent  shame.  Thucydides  blushes 
for  this  lurid  page ;  **  but  unlike  the  unmanly  historians  of 
the  past  who  have  cringed  in  the  presence  of  truth  which 
could  not  port  the  flattery  of  lords  and  masters  of  high 
degree,  he  bravely  told  us  all  he  knew.  And  what  he- 
knew  is  enough  to  make  the  blood  run  cold.46  Besides, 
it  comes  to  us  subscribed  to  by  Plato,47  Aristotle48  and 
Plutarch,4*  on  whose  minds,  if  we  catch  aright  their  words, 
this  massacre  we  are  going  to  relate  made  an  impression 
90  strong  as  to  waver  the  tone  of  these  great  philosophers' 
belief  in  slavery  *'  and  seriously  color  their  dialectics. 

*»  Thucydides  during  the  PeJoponnesian  war  for  the  hegemony  of  Greece^ 
commanded  a  division  of  the  Athenian  marine  force;  but  being  out-generalea 
at  Amphipolis  by  Bra-ida.^  went  for  twenty  years  into  exile  and  during  that 
time  used  his  wealth  and  talent  writing  the  celebrated  history  which  ha» 
come  down  to  us. 

« Thucydides,  Zte  BeUo  Pdoponnesiaao.  liber  IV.  cap.  80.  "Koi  ana  ritv 
EtAuTut/  ^ovAo/uti-oi?  TJr  ciri  irpo^aaei  e/c-cfuiai,  ^ij  n  irpb?  ra  jrapdvra  TTJ?  IIvAow 
fXOMe'njs  vfiarepitruxrw  iirti  icat  roSt  errpaf av,  <i>o8oi5fieroi  avrwv  TTJV  VfOTTjTO.  icai 
TO  TrATjflo?  (act  Adp  TO.  TroAAa  Aaxcfatfioiaotf  irpbf  TOL>?  EcAwra?  rrj?  (JuAaicrjs  irt'pi 
MaAiCTTa  icaOearrJKet)'  irpotinov  av-iav  o<roi  of ioO<7iv  iv  701?  iroAefiioif  yey<V7J<rt^a 
vfyiawt  dpitrrot,  xpcVeiri^ai,  <os  e\€v0fpia<rovrc;,  nflpav  iroiovfitvoi  xal  riyov pivot. 
TOVTOVS  <T<j>i<r<:V  vtrb  lipoi-jj^iaTO?,  o'iircp  icai  ri^iuiaav  irpurof  exacrrof  eAv^epoO<ri^ai 
jtaAiara  av  xal  «7rttte'<7t>ai.  Kat  irpOKpivavres  c$  ficrxtAiovf  oi  p.ev  caTC<papu<7avT(> 
r*  Kal  TO.  ifpoi  TT*pifi\8ov  <u?  r]\.fvt)fpo(jLevoi.-  Oi  &(  ov  iroAAu  i'crrepov  ri$6.vi<ra.v 
Tt  £vrov?  KO.I  oii&ds  TJcrQeTO  ortf  rpoircp  CXOUTTO^  JieiJiJapi)." 

•»"  Plato,  De  Republica,    Dissertation  on  Model  State. 

is  Aristotle,  Politic.  V. 

« Plutarch,  Lycurgus,  cap.  28.  This  massacre  occurred  under  Brasidas, 
In  B.  C.  424.  JElian,  Historic,  Varfa,  I.  1,  says  that  in  Greece  the  supersti- 
tious belief  everywhere  prevailed  that  the.--e  cruelties  to  the  poor  slaves  caused 
a  judgment  from  heaven  upon  the  Spartans,  in  form  of  an  earthquake,  B.  0. 
467,  by  which  20,000  people  lost  their  lives.  This  must  have  been  before  ihe- 
massacre  described  and  proves  the  frequency  of  those  hi  rrible  deeds  of  the 
Ephori  and  their  tutored  and  organized  a^assins.  For  later  comments  on  this 
earthquake  at  Sparta  and  the  superstitious  terrors  believed  to  come  from  their 
cruelty  to  slaves,  see  McCullagh,  Industrial  History  of  Free  Nations,  I.  p.  6. 


108  THE  MYSTERIES. 

This  much  is  known  that  during  the  time  these  2,000 
or  more  soldiers  were  going  through  the  ordeal  of  being 
garlanded,  crowned,  distinguished  and  conducted  to  the 
temple  of  the  gods  to  receive  their  first  beatitude,  their 
blessing  and  reward  for  bravery,  the  ephori  were  busily 
and  secretly  making  out  a  declaration  of  war,  arming  the 
valorous  young  men  and  giving  them  instructions  to  crawl 
cat-like  upon  them  with  the  assassin's  daggers !  No  more 
is  known ;  for  here  the  page  is  torn  beyond  recovery.  But 
enough  is  known.  The  happy  braves  all  disappear  for- 
ever. Naught  but  a  dark  and  spectral  mystery  broods 
over  this  page  of  history.  The  -workingmen  had  received 
the  emoluments  of  their  hire  at  the  hand  of  an  assassin 
democracy ! 

The  careful  student  of  history  from  a  standpoint  of  so- 
•cial  science  may  pick  up  evidence  that  to  some  extent  even 
the  Helots  were  organized.  Facts  continually  crop  out  in 
the  records  showing  that  these  degraded  doers  of  Spartan 
labor  under  the  law  of  Lycurgus,  unable  to  resist  the  ex- 
actions, raised  insurrections  against  their  tormentors,  and 
that  they  sometimes  got  the  better  of  them.  In  almost 
every  other  part  of  Greece  they  are  known  to  have  been 
organized  into  many  forms  of  associative  self-support  by 
which  they  were  able  to  command  more  respect.  We  re- 
turn to  Athens. 

The  fact  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that  at  Athens  as 
everywhere  among  the  Aryans,  there  were  two  distinct 
classes  by  birth — the  nobles,  claiming  to  be  descended 
from  the  gods,  and  the  earth -borns  who  went  back  to 
earth.  The  first  would  not  work  if  they  could  possibly 
avoid  it ;  at  least  this  may  be  said  of  the  men.  The  lat- 
ter did  most  of  the  work  ;  not  only  the  menial  drudgery 
but  the  skilled  labor  of  building  the  magnificent  temples 
and  other  public  edifices  whose  imposing  rvins  are  still  a 
wonder  of  the  now  living  age.  To  the  credit  of  woman 
in  high  life  be  it  said  that  sometimes  the  materfamilias 
spun  and  wove,  according  to  some  testimony  of  Plato. 
There  are  two  important  facts  to  be  considered:  In 
Greece,  Rome  and  elsewhere  in  Kurope  and  western  Asia, 
northern  Africa  and  the  islands,  the  working  people 
greatly  outnumbered  the  non-workers.  In  Greece  they 
were  three  and  four  times  more  numerous.  Again,  they 


LAND  AND  WORK-HANDS  P  UBLIC  GOODS,       109 

were  often  chatties  of  that  state.  The  land  belonged  to 
the  state  and  the  laborers  who  tilled  the  land  went  with 
it.  This  as  we  shall  see,  became  in  Italy,  under  the  gen- 
erous laws  of  Numa,  a  great  benefit  for  them  which  they 
enjoyed  for  about  500  years.  In  Greece  the  land  also 
belonged  to  the  state  ;  but  the  cruel  law  of  Lycurgus 
which  was  instituted  1,000  years  before  Christ  and  held 
good,  as  Plutarch  tells  us  for  500  years,  treated  the  poor 
creatures  with  such  flagitious  absolutism  that  they  could 
never  enjoy  so  well  as  did  the  Roman  laborers,  the  boon 
of  their  own  organization. 

The  law  of  Lycurgus  was  pernicious  in  i,ts  inculcation 
of  the  two  moral  elements  of  Plato;  those  of  irascibility 
find  concupiscence  without  sympathy.  When  a  master 
owns  a  slave  from  whom  he  expects  to  receive  labor  pro- 
duct, he  finds  it  for  his  own  advantage  to  treat  him  well; 
otherwise  he  would  not  receive  the  full  product  of  the 
man's  labor;  but  when  the  land  belonged  to  the  state  and 
the  slaves  also,  this  personal  responsibility  was  smothered 
with  it.  Thus  hatred  and  contempt,  attributes  of  Plato's 
irascible  impulse,  constituting  one  of  the  bas^s  of  moral 
philosophy,  were  for  ages  allowed  to  develope  in  the 
breast  of  the  Spartan.  Again,  concupiscence  or  desire, 
being  common  or  national  under  the  Lycurgan  law,  was 
averted  from  its  natural  competitive  course  by  a  commun- 
ism of  gratification  without  responsibilities  and  a  commun- 
ism of  participation;  and  these  with  idleness  and  all  the 
depravity  which  such  deteriorating  influences  entail,  low- 
ered Spartan  morality  below  the  plain  of  sympathy.  This 
unfeeling  and  inhuman  condition  of  the  public  mind  be- 
came a  natural  result  ultimately  destroying  the  otherwise 
unhindered  plan  of  Lycurgus. 

Had  the  law  of  Lycurgus  provided  for  absolute  equality 
of  all  men,  slave  and  noble  alike,  had  its  communism  ap- 
plied to  ;ill  on  exactly  equal  footing,  the  common  owner- 
ship could  have  been  carried  out  by  the  state  with  greater 
general  happiness  and  all  the  cruelty  which  depraved 
Spartan  life  would  have  been  saved  to  the  credit  of  a  splen- 
did people.  But  that  would  have  been  a  death  blow  to 
the  Pagan  religion,  itself  based  upon  egoism  and  possible 
only  under  a  system  of  lords  and  slaves.  Thus,  with  the 
exception  of  the  taint  of  labor  and  its  concomitant  wrongs- 


110  THE   MYSTERIES. 

to  the  human  race,  the  ancients  began  radically.  They 
began  by  having  the  family  egoism  of  the  primordial 
hearthstone  —  the  first  ownership  —  subdued  into  common 
ownership  of  land  and  even  of  children;  and  had  they 
banished  that  hideous  curse,  the  taint  of  labor  and  added 
•to  their  other  and  truly  virtuous  methods  of  self  culture, 
the  enobling,  healthful  and  thrift-bearing  practice  of  im- 
partial economical  labor  as  a  necessary  requisite  to  sanity 
and  wealth  they  would  have  taught  the  world  a  lesson 
of  advancement  instead  of  one  in  degeneracy  and  shame. 
The  same  must  be  said  of  Athens  and  the  other  Grecian 
states  except  that  none  of  them  are  known  to  have  been 
so  cruel  and  heartless  as  the  Spartans  under  the  Lycur- 
gan  law. 

We  have  thus  sufficiently  shown  the  grievance  borne 
by  the  ancient  working  people  inciting  and  goading  them 
to  organization.  It  now  remains  to  be  proved  that  the 
Greeks  of  this  class,  were  actually  in  a  substantial  state 
of  combination,  especially  the  Athenians,  during  the  ex- 
istence of  the  Eleusinian  games  near  Athens;  a  point  which 
throughout  the  chapter  has  been  the  subject  in  kernel,  of 
•our  inquiry.  This  substantiated,  we  have  a  startling  clue 
to  the  causes  from  a  sociological  standpoint,  of  two  histor- 
ical phenomena:  the  social  wars  and  the  advent  of  our  era. 

Every  recent  investigation  reveals  fresh  slabs  or  drags 
from  the  depths  of  time,  earth  and  oblivion  something  in 
proof.  Dr.  Schliemann,  quotes  a  passage  of  Homer  which 
shows  an  explanation  comprehensible  to  us  in  no  other 
way  than  that  there  existed  an  understanding  at  that  an- 
cient day,  between  the  lower  people.  A  peddler  came  to 
the  palace  with  a  gold  collar  set  with  amber  beads,  and 
Homer  sang  a  beautiful  verse  describing  the  knowing  look 
that  the  young  prince  saw  exchanged  between  the  man  and 
the  servant  woman  in  the  hall  while  the  queen  was  admir- 
ing the  amber  necklace.60  These  were  the  nods  and  winks 

so  Schliemann,  Tiryns  ;  The  P>-e-Mstoric  Palace,  p.  368,  containing  the 
passage  from  Homer.  This  also  suggests  that  the  working  people,  including 
bouse  servants,  were  secretly  In  league  at  Mycenae  and  that  the  league  reached 
M  far  as  Phoenicia. 

q\v6'  arr)p  TToAinSpis  </ioO  Trpbf  Su>/J.ara  Trarpot, 
Xftvatov  opfiov  i\<av,  fiera  S'  ijAe'icTpoKTi?  eepro' 
•rov   litv  dp'  iv  fxeAapw  <$/awcu  xai  Tforvoa.    f^rfr-qp 
' 


uvov    vvisvopicvcii'  o    6t    Tn    KdTfvt 
jjroi    6    Kavvevaras   KOt'Arfv   eiri  vya.  j 


GREAT  ANTIQUITY   OF  LABOR    UNIONS.        Ill 

•of  the  secret  society  which  were  observed  but  could  not 
be  read  by  the  lad.  This  was  in  the  second  millennium 
before  Christ. 

Granier,  who  must  have  been  a  great  hunter  of  facts,  ob- 
serves that  slavery  was  originally  of  the  family;  not  of  vio- 
lent origin,51  precisely  what  Dr.  Fustel  de  Coulanges  has 
since  proved  beyond  refutation  of  the  most  probing  com- 
mentators seeking  contrary  evidence.53  Of  course  history 
gives  ponderous  testimony  that  violence  was  a  source  of 
enslavement ;  but  that  was  not  the  origin.  When  our  era 
opened  it  brought  with  it  an  inestimable  boon;  a  pearl 
of  great  piice  ;  the  utter  extinction  of  social  class53 — noth- 
ing less  than  the  long  sought  revolution.  Dr.  Cliff e  Leslie 
in  an  introduction  to  M.  De  Laveleye's  "  Primitive  Prop- 
erty," observing  the  progress  of  this  greatest  of  all  the 
revolutions  which  he  rightly  sees  is  yet  far  from  being 
realized  though  nearly  all  civilized  races  have  repudiated 
the  curse  of  slavery,  takes  the  entirely  correct  view  with 
regard  to  ownership  after  the  momentous  but  gradual 
revolution  is  past.54 

It  is  known  that  in  early  Greece  the  hetairai  and  the 
Jietairoi  were  female  and  male  associates  of  the  laboring 
class,  and  that  they  had  their  legalized  association  for 
mutual  benefit.  From  very  early  times  they  used  their 
associations,  not  only  for  mutual  protection  against  op- 
pression but  also  for  mutual  improvement  and  pleasure.55 
The  celebrated  jugglers  were  mostly  members  of  an  or- 
ganization under  whose  auspices  they  used  their  jugglery 
as  a  trade  wherewith  to  gain  a  living.  These  are  of  al- 
most incredibly  ancient  origin  and  in  Greece  many  of  them 
were  descendants  of  Egyptian  slaves.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
prove  that  at  an  epoch  since  which  an  aeon  of  time  has 

si  Hiitoire  des  Classit  Ouvrtirts,  p.  33 :  "In  conclusion,  everything  leads  in 
the  plainest  manner  to  the  belief  that  slavery  had  no  other  beginning  than  that 
-of  the  family  entailment  of  which  it  constituted  an  economic  part." 

'•»La  Cite  Antique,  liv.  II.  chap.  vii.  pp.  76-89. 

"Paul,  Epiitle  to  the  Gallalions,  chap.  iii.  verse  28;  "There  is  neither  Jew 
nor  Greek,  there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  thare  is  neither  male  nor  female;  for 
ye  are  all  one  in  Jesus  Christ." 

w  Primitive  Property,  Introduction,  p.  ixi.  "The  owners  of  property  are  on 
the  eve  of  becoming  a  powerless  minority  ;  for  the  many,  to  whom  the  whole 
power  of  the  state  is  of  necessity  gravitating,  see  all  the  means  of  subsistence 
and  enjoyment  afforded  by  nature  in  the  possession  of  the  few."  Cliffe  Leslie. 

55  Guhl  and  Koner,  Z-i/e  of  the  Greek*  and  JRomant,  pp.  268-269,  showing 
Greek  customs  and  manners  at  a  tymporion.  Other  evidence  testifies  to  there  be- 
ing a  secret  organization  at  these  leasts, which  conducted  the  ceremonies.  See 
also  Ltidera.  Die  Dionyfiichen  Kunstler,  passim. 


112  THE  MYSTKRIKS. 

rolled  over  the  human  race,  those  jugglers  were  plying 
their  profession  the  same  cs  at  a  much  later  era  in  which 
we  find  them  at  Athens.56  The  professional  business  of 
these  jugglers  and  tumblers  was  to  amuse  the  people;  and 
there  are  abundant  inscriptions  and  pictures  to  be  found 
on  vases  and  other  pieces  of  pottery  which  show  that  they 
worked  hard  to  earn  their  money.  These  were  specimens 
of  the  slave  system  which  marks  the  despotic  rule,  and  ex- 
isted first  All  remote  antiquity  bears  evidence,  in  pre- 
historic inscriptions  and  inkings  of  different  nature,  of 
many  slaves,  and  that  labor  was  degraded.57  The  slaves 
being  first,  there  came  about  an  era  of  manumissions. 
Freedmen  entered  upon  the  scene  bearing  the  taint  of 
slave  labor  and  were  obliged  to  resort  to  all  sorts  of  in- 
dustry and  wit  to  make  a  living ;  and  among  other  methods 
adopted  to  secure  that  end,  they  entered  into  mutual 
alliances  with  each  other  for  common  assistance  through 
trade  organizations.  There  were  great  numbers  also  of 
the  communia  mimorumM  or  unions  of  comic  actors  who 
in  a  similar  manner  got  a  living  by  amusing  the  people. 
Strabo  speaks  of  them M  and  Bd'ckh  gives  the  Greek  of 
an  interesting  institution  of  this  kind.60  Mommsen  gives 
the  law  recorded  in  the  digest  from  Gaius,  which  after- 
wards suppressed  most  of  these  societies.61 

A  curious  union  was  that  of  the   Vrinatores,  men  whose- 
business  at  Rome  was  to  dive  in  the  Tiber  and  probably 

56  "An  attempt  has  been  made  to  mathematically  measure  this  vast  period 
of  time  by  calculating  from  the  depth  of  mud  of  the  alluvial  Nile,  at  which  ob- 
jects have  been  found,  by  L.  Horner,  on  The  Alluvial  Land  of  Egypt,  and  results 
published  in  the  I'ltil.  Transactions,  1858,  p.  75,  which  given  12,000  years,  at  the 
assumed  rate  of  deposit  of  three  and  five  tenths  inches  per  100  years  at  Mem- 
phis, from  the  fragments  of  vases  found  70  feet  under  ground."    Sir  Gardner 
Wi.k'ii  on.  Ancient  Ey^iptiant.    vol.  I.  pp.  ft-9.,  note,  paraphrased. 

57  Cf.  Bancroft,  Nutire.  Rarts.  vol.  IV.  Antiquities,  pp.  :>05-6,  showing  that  in 
the  remote  past  of  Central  America,  inscriptions  exhibiting  the  most  despotic 
conditions  were  produced,  probably  thousands  of  years  before  the  discovery  of 
the  pr  -sent  uouiadi  •  races  who  were  found  in  a  semi-communal  state.     At  Pa- 
lenqiii1  are  inscriptions  on  the  ancient  walls  showing  conditions  coeval  with  the 
earliest  European  monarchism.    A  king  garbed  in  fine  military  attire,  and  the 
everlasting  slaves  on  bended  knees  and  in  humble  suppliance.    They  are  freely 
drawn  with  art  superior  to  Egyptian,  being  in  bas  reliefs,  in  stucco  on  the  walls 
of  the  palace. 

5*  Mommsen,  De  Collegiis  et  Sodahctis  Romanorum.  p.  83 ;  "CommnnJa  mim- 
orum  Eomanorum  et  in  nomina  et  in  institutis  TO.  Ko<.va.  -riov  ir«pi  TO*  Aiovvcror 
Ttvnlav  referunt,  quce  apud  (iraacos  arnpla  et  plurima  fuertint." 

M  Strabo.    Geographira,  XIV.   643,28. 

60  Corpus  Insrnptionum.  Orncarum,  noe.  349  and  2931. 

i  Mommsen  ;  De  Coll.  et  Sodal.  Romanorum,  p.  84.  Great  numbers  of  these 
locieties  existed  about  the  Hellespont  and  among  the  Ionian  Islands. 


SOLON'S   LABOR   LAWS.  113 

also  into  the  public  baths  in  search  of  things  lost  by  the 
grandees  while  boating  or  bathing. 62  At  Naples,  Nice  and 
other  places  on  the  sea  these  divers  had  unions  and  no 
doubt  possessed  skilled  men  who  succeeded  in  restoring  the 
valuables  after  the  wrecks  of  triremes,  and  other  craft. 6a 
Especially  were  these  unions  a  benefit  to  community  at  Sy- 
racuse, the  Piraeus  and  Byzantium,  where  these  "and  other 
unions  abounded  in  great  numbers.  Mommsen  on  the 
law  of  Solon  also  declares  that  the  re  were  both  sacred  and 
civil  communes,63  and  he  further  states  that  all  such  soci- 
eties were  not  only  permitted,  but  they  possessed  at  that 
early  period  (B.  C.  600),  the  right  of  perpetual  organiza- 
tion. The  probability  is  that  these  organizations  had  ex- 
isted from  a  much  earlier  epoch  than  that  of  Solon  ;  but 
having  never  done  any  harm  at  Athens  and  the  Athenians 
being  a  much  more  sympathic  people  than  the  Spartans, 
they  were  never  molested.  So  long  as  the  trade  unions 
of  the  world,  ancient  and  modern,  have  restricted  them- 
selves to  mere  pleasure,  religion,  and  frugality,  they  do 
not  appear  to  have  been  harshly  dealt  with ;  but  so  soon 
as  they  ventured  to  consider  and  act  upon  the  subject  of 
politics,  which  of  all  others,  was  most  necessary  to  their 
welfare,  they  became  objects  of  hate  and  of  repression. 
Kspecially  was  this  the  case  in  ancient  times ;  because  pol- 
itics like  war,  was  a  noble  calling.  Petty  frugality,  and 
crude  convivial,  as  well  as  burial  ordeals  were  too  trifling 
and  mean  in  the  eyes  of  the  nobles  to  attract  attention. 

There  was  at  Athens  a  class  of  public  servants.64  They 
were  not  real  slaves  although  public  property,  and  treated 
as  menials;  never  being  allowed  to  participate  in  the 
slightest  degree  in  the  principle  of  government  and  yet 
they  actually  performed  all  the  routine  labor  of  the  gov- 
ernment. At  the  time  we  hear  of  them  through  public 
records  and  through  inadvertent  mention  by  historians, 
they  seem  to  resemble  freedmen.  They  received  a  small 
salary  to  keep  them  alive,  and  their  business  was  to  keep 

MOrellius,  Inscriptionum  Latinarum  Selertarum  Amplissima  Collectio,  No.  4115 ; 

"Ti.  Olaudio  Esquil.  Severe  Decuriali  lictore. sportnlse  viritim 

diviclantur  prnesertim  cum  navigatioscapharum  diligentia  ejus  adqiiisita  etcon- 
ftrmatasit.  Ex  decreto  ordinis  corporis  piscatorum  et  urinatorum  totius  alvei 
Tiberis  quibus  ex  SC.  coire  licet."  The  inscription  was  found  in  Rome. 

63  "Notabilis  est  hoc  loco  lex  Solonis,  ex  qua  sacra  civiliaque  communia  non 
alio  jure  fuerunt  quam  quo  societates  ad  ne^otiationem  pr;Bditionemve  consti- 
tute."  Mommsen.  De  Collegtis  et  Soclaliciis  Jtomanorum,  p.  39. 

<>i  Consult  Dr.  Hermann,  I'oliHc.al  A ntiquitit*  of  Greecf,  paragraph  147. 


114  THE  MYSTERIES. 

the  books  and  do  the  various  duties  of  a  public  office  un- 
der government. 

They  had  their  protective  unions.  Being  clerks,  and 
constantly  in  presence  of  polite  people,  they  made  a  gen- 
teel appearance  and  were  apt  in  the  civilities  of  court. 
But  like  all  their  class  they  also  had  a  grievance.  They 
were  treated  as  menials  because  they  were  not  "blooded;" 
and  consequently  could  not  pit  their  natural  genius  and 
ability  against  that  of  their  masters  who  conducted  the 
public  offices  and  who  belonged  to  noble  stock.  "  It  was 
required  that  Archons  and  priests  should  prove  the  purity 
of  their  descent  as  citizens  for  three  generations."  M  The 
business  of  the  Pagan  temple  was  a  part  of  the  state  af- 
fairs: and  consequently  priests  in  those  times  were  pub- 
lic officers.  Priests  were  politicians.  One  of  the  quali- 
fications of  the  Archons  or  rulers  was  to  have  a  good  rec- 
ord that  they  attended  to  religious  ceremonies.  Ostracism, 
banishment  and  death  were  among  the  punishme  nts  de- 
signated by  the  law  for  neglecting  these  duties  of  citizen- 
ship; and  the  least  whisper  against  any  of  the  gods  or  the 
regulations  of  the  Pagan  religion  was  blasphemy.  This 
explains  the  causes  of  that  great  difference  in  station 
which  existed  without  regard  to  the  business  qualifications 
of  the  men.  Smart  workingmen  without  rights,  or  any 
claim  to  rights,  were  often  required  on  a  mean  salary  to 
do  all  the  work  of  both  departments  of  governments  with- 
out being  entitled  to  the  least  benefit  in  either,  while  a 
tyrant  and  sensualist  held  all  control  and  honor  like  some 
iDodern  sinecurists  of  our  offices.  There  is  evidence  that 
this  exclusivism  was  regarded  by  the  poor  workmen  as  a 
great  grievance;  but  their  exclusion  from  free  participa- 
tion in  religious  rights  and  especially  from  membership  in 
and  access  to  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  was  the  greatest  one. 
Against  these  grievances  they  were  organized  in  secret. 

Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus  mentions  a  society  of  the 
Thiasotes  or  Greek  labor  unions,  the  members  of  which 
had  for  their  patron  deity  the  goddess  Minerva  through 
the  noble  family  of  the  Nautii,  who  brought  the  image  of 
Minerva  away  from  the  Trojans  to  Italy.66  Here  it  ap- 


,  §.  148.    The  £oKi/u.a<ria,  or  scrutiny  into  the  anteced.iuts  of  candi- 
dates, is  here  explained. 

56  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus,  Antiqvitales  Romance,  VI.  69. 


REMOTELY  ANCIENT  STRIKE  AND  MASSACRE.  115 

pears  that  the  union  was  not  permitted  to  worship  their 
goddess  directly  but  had  to  approach  her  through  a  noble 
family.  By  worshiping  the  borrowed  proxy  they  got  ac- 
cess indirectly  to  the  object  of  their  reverence.  This 
statement  is  valuable  as  it  sheds  light  upon  what  in  those 
early  tunes  is  thus  proved  to  have  been  felt  as  a  grievance; 
and  shows  that  it  was  imperative  on  the  part  of  the  un- 
recognized working  people  to  organize  and  take  counsel 
with  each  other  on  what  they  considered  a  most  important 
matter,  the  right  of  worship,  from  which  they  were  ex- 
cluded on  account  of  their  reputed  meanness  of  birth. 
The  existence  or  non-existence  of  this  soul  depended  upon 
it.  Dirksen  in  his  Twelve  Tables  points  to  Gaius  in  proof 
that  the  hetairai  and  the  sodales  were  one  and  the  same 
organization ; 61  the  former  being  in  Greece  and  the  latter 
in  Italy.  He  further  states  that  a  comparison  with  the 
law  of  Solon  proves  that  they  were  tolerated  and  their  ac- 
tions encouraged,  if  not  regulated  by  him.  The  Twelve 
Tables  are  now  known  to  be  contemporaneous  with,  if  not 
a  translation  from  the  law  of  Solon;  and  the  law  of  Solon 
was  a  paraphrase  of  the  still  more  ancient  law  of  Amasis 
an  Egyptian  king 

Nor  was  this  organization  common  to  Kome  and  Greece. 
Granier  says:  "  Trades  Unions  existed  since  the  time  of 
Solomon,  and  among  the  Greeks  from  the  time  of  The- 
seus."68 In  the  time  of  Joshua,  B.  C.  1537-1427,  they  are 
spoken  of.  "We  have  evidence  regarding  an  organization 
that  attempted  a  resistance  to  the  overbearing  nobles,  in 
time  of  Agis  I.  These  were  Helots.  The  insurrection 
did  not  succeed,  for  it  appears  that  the  king  caused  their 
murder  in  large  numbers.  Agis  I,  was  one  of  the  mythi- 
cal Spartan  kings  and  is  believed  to  have  reigned  more 
than  a  thousand  years  before  Christ.  This  great  massa- 
cre of  the  helots  took  place  1055  years  before  Christ. 
Traditionally  the  event  came  down  to  the  era  of  writing 
as  something  mysterious  and  terrible.  When  at  last,  it 
entered  the  chronicles  of  historians  it  was  dim  in  detail 
and  being  a  subject  which  gave  pain  instead  of  pleasure 
— one  of  those  servile  episodes  which  early  history  appears 

67  They  had  in  Greece  the  o-vo-ortroi  (communists),  who  ate  at  the  common 
table,  the  oMOTcufxu  (burial  societies),  the  ^taaurat  (disciples  of  the  doctrine  of 
mutual  love). 

fis  ciranier  de  Cassagnac.  Histoire  det   Clcutet  Ouvritret,  chap.  xil. 


116  THE  MYSTERIES. 

to  have  preferred  to  leave  unwritten — we  unfortunately 
have  only  a  few  faint  records  which  have  struggled  through 
the  mist  s  of  high  antiquity  and  gleam  darkly  through  sul- 
len tradition  and  venturesome  historic  jottings  upon  us. 
But  the  murder  of  the  helots  by  order  of  Agis  I.  is  spoken 
of  by  many  authors  as  having  occurred  B.  C.  1,055  or 
thereabout.  After  that  event  they  became  adscripts 
glebae,  public  property  attached  to  the  soil. 

The  student  of  history  from  a  standpoint  of  sociology, 
would,  however,  be  glad  to  obtain  more  light  upon  that 
event ;  because  we  want  to  know  what  was  the  origin  of 
the  Aristotelian  philosophy  and  the  surroundings  that 
motived  it. 

Of  all  the  philosophies  or  systems  of  arrangement  as  a 
basis  of  enduring  polity,  the  chrcmatistics  of  Aristotle, 
properly  understood,  is  sure  to  be  that  which  any  and  all 
great  labor  movements  cannot  but  adopt.  The  sociolo- 
gist, who  intelligently  scans  the  evolution  of  our  race  on  the 
enormous  scale  in  which  things  are  presented  to  him  by  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  lowly  and  downtrodden  poor  who  have 
fed  and  enriched  the  non-laboring  few  from  earliest  ages, 
cannot  but  wonder  how  a  rich  and  fortunate  man,  an  aris- 
tocrat, a  believer  in  slavery,  a  dialectician,  and  one  who 
spurned  the  menial,  who  council  ed  and  advised  the  might- 
iest of  monarchs,  could  have  settled  down  in.  the  conclu- 
sion that  there  is  only  one  way  of  getting  at  truth  and 
that  is  by  beginning  at  small  things  and  through  them,  in 
tireless  investigation  and  experiment,  learn  to  know  and 
improve.  Yet  all  who  study  the  logic  of  this  man,  as  laid 
down  by  him,  are  irresistibly  led  to  traverse  the  very  path 
which  lie  opened  with  the  keen  edge  of  his  slashing  knife 
of  reason.  He  "  discriminated  between  the  several  facul- 
ties;— the  nourishing,  feeling,  concupiscent,  moving  and 
reasoning  powers  of  animal  organism  and  attempted  to 
explain  the  origin  of  these  powers  within  the  body,  and 
build  his  morals  and  politics  on  the  peculiarities  of  human 
organization."69  Everything  according  to  Aristotle,  if  we 
would  positively  know,  must  be  founded  on  close  obser- 
vation of  facts.  His  eudaimonia  was  attained  only  through 
the  bliss  that  rewards  mind  or  reason  when  it  achieves 

69  American  Encyclopaedia,  Art.  Aristotle. 


LABOR  A  SOURCE  OF  A  THINKERS  SUCCESS.    117 

truth  by  indefatigable  experiment  and  experience.  He 
would  have  men  acquire  all  knowledge  by  study  of  hum- 
ble facts,  and  lay  down  therefrom  a  true  basis  of  political 
economy.  Nothing,  not  even  the  servile  race,  the  slaves, 
the  freedmen,  the  workingmen,  was  so  mean  but  Aristotle 
could  enrich  his  mind  by  studying  it. 

Here  lies  concealed  from  all  eyes  except  those  of  the 
student  of  man  from  the  standpoint  of  sociology,  a  phe- 
nomenon. Why  did  Aristotle  adopt  opposite  conclusions 
from  Plato,  his  old  master  ?  Plato  believed  largely  in  the 
theory  that  only  the  unseen  gods  dwelling  in  the  etherial 
abodes,  could  impart  to  man  absolute  knowledge.  Aris- 
totle dared  believe  and  teach  that  knowledge  could  only 
be  had  by  observation  and  experiment  with  little  things; 
for  they  were  the  beginnings.  The  poor  workingman, 
then  infinitessimally  little  as  Aristotle  believed  him,  was 
the  beginning,  being  the  author  of  labor  product  and  con- 
sequently worthy,  of  observation  and  study.  This  was  the 
first  encouragement  the  unappreciated  maker  and  pro- 
ducer of  all  means  of  life  ever  received  from  a  philoso- 
pher.70 In  all  ages  the  workingman  has  been  an  unob- 
served factor.  He  is  of  the  earth :  this  he  has  himself 
acknowledged,  whatever  claims  the  idler  may  have  filed 
in  his  own  behalf  to  the  contrary.  Being  of  earth,  he 
digs  and  cultivates  it  and  from  his  labor  springs  the  fruit 
which  when  ripe  and  harvested  is  eaten  and  enjoyed  by 
the  idler.  He  built  edifices  which  have  survived  the  de- 
compositions of  time  and  his  master  enjoyed  them.  But 
more  important  and  more  obscure  are  the  fine  details  he 
performed  which,  though  often  considered  too  mean  to 
mention,  were  in  reality  as  now,  the  very  bulwark  of  human 
existence  and  though  too  obscure  to  attract  attention  were 
in  reality  the  foundation  of  all  nourishment,  achievement, 
history  and  knowledge.  The  great  philosopher  saw  this. 
He  studied  nature;  and  the  workingman,  recognized  as 
an  element  of  nature,  was  watched  by  him.  The  numer- 
ous mutual  societies  and  union  of  resistance  existing  about 
the  philosopher  came  in  for  a  share  of  investigation  and 

TO  It  has  been  stated  that  Aristotle  plagiarized  Eapila  and  certain  other  East 
Indian  teachers  and  authors  of  great  learning,  having  obtained  their  books  while 
on  his  celebrated  scientific  journey  of  researches  with  the  emperor  Alexander 
the  Great.  The  question  is  however,  obscure.  He  certainly  followed  some  ol 
the  ideas  of  Anaxagoras,  Kapila  and  others. 


118  THE  MYSTERIES. 

were  seen  to  be  the  deeply  underlying  fundament  of  all 
whence  the  whole  superstructure  of  society  rose.  With- 
out the  little,  and  humble,  too  unappreciated  producer  the 
world  would  be  a  wilderness  of  forests  and  wild  beasts. 
Hence,  as  all  came  from  humble  toil,  so  the  toil  of  inves- 
tigation and  experiment,  however  mean  and  unworthy  the 
rich  might  esteem  it,  was  the  very  most  necessary  of  all 
things  to  resort  to  in  order  to  arrive  at  truth,  improve- 
ment and  correct  government.  This  is  the  basis  of  the 
philosophy  of  Aristotle.  The  world  is  following  it  to-day, 
led  by  labor;  and  the  myriad  links  of  invention,  and  dis- 
covery in  experimental  progress,  are  in  exact  harmony 
with  the  recommendations  of  the  Stagerite  of  the  Nym- 
pheeum. 

There  are  some  curious  episodes  in  the  life  of  Plata, 
which  the  ordinary  reader,  without  system  and  without 
knowledge  of  the  little  details  of  life  of  the  age  he  lived 
in,  overlooks.  What  was  the  trouble  with  him  at  Syra- 
cuse? Nearly  four  hundred  years  before  Christ,  Plato, 
after  varied  travels,  after  he  had  written  his  "  Theaetetus," 
and  his  "  Statesman,"  and  was  well-known  to  have  decided 
against  the  workingmen,  to  have  pronounced  them  too 
vile  to  merit  a  better  fate  than  bondage,  and  to  have  de- 
clared that  the  proper  form  of  government  was  that  of 
aristocrats  and  slaves,  we  find  him  at  Syracuse,  spurned 
by  Dionysius,  waived  from  his  presence,  and  consigned  to 
the  billingsgate  that  fed  the  great  city  with  fish.'1  To  be 
sent  away  from  the  tyrant's  presence  when  his  sole  mission 
was  to  teach  his  majesty  the  honeyed  sweets 7a  of  his  then 
famous  philosophy,  was  bad ;  but  to  be  relegated  to  the 
city's  ban-lieues,  among  the  brobdagnagians,  and  hear 
their  ridicule,  was  worse.  But  they  must  have  been  especi- 
ally disagreeable  to  him  since  he  well  knew  that  their 
raillery  was  directed  against  him.  They  were  of  the  low- 
born, with  little  education  and  no  urbanity;  he  was  of 
the  great  gens  family,  a  very  Ariston,  of  pure  stock, 
boasted  of,  among  all  Athenians.  But  they  had  wit  and 
sufficient  means  of  knowing  facts,  to  be  informed  that  he 
was  the  proud  teacher  of  aristocrats,  that  he  did  not  teach 

11  Grote,  Plata  and  (he  other  Companions  of  Socratet. 

w  "At  Platoni  quum  in  cunis  parvulo  dormienti  apes  in  labellia  conssedlsent 
responsum  est,  singular!  ilium  suavitate  orationis  lore;  ita  futura  eloqueutia 
provisa  in  infante  est."  Cicero,  De  JJivinatime,  I.  36. 


119 


the  lowest  of  the  people  but  that  he  believed  with  the  cit- 
izens of  Sparta  and  of  Athens  that  their  slavery  and 
humiliation  were  just.  We  also  have  found  some  evidence 
that  these  people  were  organized.  They  belonged  to  the 
four  trade  unions,  viz :  the  mercenaries.73  the  caudicarii  or 
boatmen  and  sailors,  the  piscatorii,  fisherman  and  the 
fabri,  artisans.  There  must  also  have  been  unions  of  the 
tax  gatherers ;  at  any  rate  in  later  times,  for  Cicero  men- 
tions vectigalia  in  connection  with  Verres  who  was  gov- 
ernor in  Sicily.74 

This  last  fact  is  one  very  interesting  to  know;  for  it 
sheds  fresh  light  upon  that  memorable  episode  in  the  life 
of  Plato.  The  unions,  finding  that  the  tyrant  Dionysius  had 
taken  an  affront  at  Plato,  and  hating  him  themselves,  were 
willing  to  COE  spire  with  the  king  against  his  life.  It  was 
probably  an  organization  of  the  caudicarii  whom  Dionysius 
engaged  to  carry  him  off  to  Italy  and  their  greed  to  make 
a  living  out  of  the  affair  was  probably  what  saved  his  life. 
Instead  of  killing  him  as  they  were  probably  paid  to  do,  thny 
received  an  offer  in  Italy  for  him  alive,  which  they  ac- 
cepted and  sold  Plato  as  a  slave.  He  was  afterwards  ran- 
somed by  his  friend  Dion  and  returned  to  Athens  a  wiser 
man.  We  are  not  informed  as  to  what  influence  this  ex- 
perience had  upon  the  great  philosopher ;  but  there  are 
gleamings  which  illume  our  conjecture  that  his  illustri- 
ous disciple,  Aristotle,  who  always  opposed  his  theories, 
took  care  to  enrich  his  store  of  wisdom  from  the  circum- 
stance. 

In  early  times,  while  the  world  was  yet  too  ignorant  and 
inexperienced  to  understand  the  advantages  of  arbitration 
and  of  subsisting  upon  peaceful  rather  than  warlike  meas- 
ures, brigandage  was  common.  It  existed  by  interna- 
tional permission  or  common  consent.  The  only  indus- 
trial system  then  known  was  that  conducted  by  the  trade 
unions;  for  according  to  the  regulations  of  Solon  and  king 
Numa,  even  the  slaves  were  many  times  managed  by  over- 
seers who  were  under  pay  of  the  unions.  The  rich  citi- 

is Grote,  Hist.  p.  79.  The  mercenary  soldiers  especially  hated  Plato  who 
had  acted  the  friend  of  Dionysius.  The  latter  had  cut  down  their  pay,  p.  86). 
In  consequence  of  which  they  had  struck.  They  were  all  organized.  Cf.  also, 
Grote's  Plato,  and  Livy,  XXV.  33. 

74Cicero,  Verres.  II.  3,  7  :  "Quoniam  quasi  quaeclam  prsedia  populi  Ro- 
mani  sunt  vectigalia  nostra  atque  provmciee." 


120  TEE  MYSTERIES. 

zen  believed  it  a  disgrace  to  labor.  He  made  his  wealth 
or  capital  work  for  him.  Among  other  chattels  were  his 
slaves.  But  he  was  too  high  to  personally  conduct  the 
labor  of  slaves.  This  was  done,  to  a  large  extent,  by  those 
who  were  not  ashamed  to  perform  labor.  Of  course, 
then,  these  overseers  were  descendants  of  slaves.  They 
were  the  freedmen,  who  on  receiving  their  manumission 
struck  out  for  themselves;  and  for  safety  and  success 
formed  themselves  into  unions  for  mutual  assistance  and 
resistance  against  competitkm,  danger  and  abuse.  Among 
the  multitudes  of  occupations  they  assumed,  are  found, 
especially  with  the  Grecians  and  Syracusians,  the  Phoe- 
nicians and  the  people  inhabiting  the  Grecian  Archipel- 
ago, that  of  brigands  and  the  mercenaries.  Both  the 
brigands  and  mercenary  systems  were  closely  leagued 
into  unions  which  upheld  each  other  in  the  vicissitudes 
of  the  struggle  for  life.  The  whole  system  of  the  warlike 
patrician  families  both  in  Greece  and  Rome  may  be  said 
to  be  one  of  brigandage.  What  is  arming  a  multitude  of 
idle  men,  disciplining  them  to  the  use  of  weapons  and 
marching  them  into  a  neighboring  country  to  destroy  the 
products  of  industry  but  brigandage  ?  Yet  ancient  his- 
tory is  a  constant  repetition  of  this  predatory  and  cruel 
system.  It  was  brigandage. 

Among  the  sufferers  from  this  system  were  oftentimes 
the  working  people ;  some  of  them  slaves,  but  many  also 
freedmen,  belonging  to  unions.  They  were  thus  torn 
from  their  peaceful  occupation.  Possessing  the  long  ex- 
perience of  association  they  naturally  utilized  this  their 
only  means  of  gaining  a  living,  by  becoming  brigands. 
They  turned  their  trade  unions  into  bandities  and  learned 
to  estrange  themselves  from  habits  of  industrious  peace  and 
assume  the  fierce  modes  of  marauders.  They  exchanged 
the  workshop  for  the  jungles,  the  mountain  fastnesses,  the 
caves  and  thus  became  fighters  and  guerrillas.  A  remark- 
able case  of  this  desparation  is  seen  in  that  extraordinary 
man  Spartacus,  the  gladiator,  of  whom  we  shall  give,  in  a 
future  chapter,  a  complete  and  exhaustive  history,  in  in- 
vestigating the  terrible  results  of  Roman  repression  of 
trade  unions  by  the  conspiracy  laws.  It  is  enough  here 
merely  to  mention  that  this  tendency  of  ancient  labor  or- 
ganization to  reverse  their  habits,  forsake  the  peaceful  in- 


THE  TRADE  UNION  A  STATE  INSTITUTION.     121 

dustries  which  they  loved,  and  wander  away  in  organized 
clubs  seeking  subsistence  through  plunder,  was  by  no 
means  a  fault  as  such  actions  are  now  considered;  for 
otherwise  they  would  have  immediately  been  seized  by 
the  conquering  legions  and  sold  into  slavery.  In  those 
precarious  times,  therefore,  brigandage  was  no  crime,  al- 
though to  be  caught  was  slavery  or  death.  But  it  added 
a  fierceness  to  the  social  aspect  of  the  human  race. 

The  Eleusinian  mysteries  caused  a  great  deal  of  dissat- 
isfaction and  feud  by  reason  of  their  severe,  aristocratic 
exclusiveness  which  often  wounded  the  pride  even  of  the 
haughty  patrician  families  of  Attica,  and  we  now  return 
to  them  as  our  legitimate  theme.  In  our  chapter  on  the 
system  of  trade  unions  farther  on  we  give  a  detailed  de- 
scription of  the  ancient  labor  unions  and  evidences  of 
their  immense  number  which  we  have  collected,  partly  by 
our  own  travel  and  observation,  partly  by  personal  inter- 
views with  the  great  authors  of  Archaeological  works  and 
partly  by  ransacking  with  much  patience  and  labor  every 
written  statement  which  original  law  and  history,  together 
with  the  criticism  of  modern  and  ancient  authors  thereon, 
liave  contributed  to  illume  this  dark  page  of  the  social 
past. 

The  ancient  trade  union,  both  under  the  law  of  Solon 
and  of  Numa  Pompilius,  was  a  state  institution!  The 
land  taken  by  conquest  belonged  to  the  state,  together 
with  the  family  religion  and  all  its  magnificent  temples  of 
worship.  The  great  buildings  of  the  cities  were  property 
of  the  state;  most  of  the  slaves  who  cultivated  the  SOL! 
under  the  direction,  exclusively,  of  the  trade  union,  were 
also  property  of  the  state.  This  made  a  social  state — an 
almost  socialistic  state — and  in  many  respects  more  social 
than  political ;  but  entirely  spoiled  by  the  terrible  social 
distinctions  of  rank.75  The  religion,  based  upon  heredity 
and  superstition  combined,  was  an  extraordinary  tissue 
of  errors,  greatly  increasing  the  common  misery  of  the 
people  by  flaunting  in  their  faces  the  insult  that  none  but 

75  Millar,  Origin  of  Ranks,  Basil.  1793,  chap,  yi.;  Granier,  Hist.  de>  Clasta 
Ouvrieres,  pp.  484-493.  In  his  18th  chapter,  Granier  cites  the  rescript  of  An- 
toninus Pius  :  "Dominorum  quidem  potestatem  iii  servos  suos  inlibitum  essa 
oportet,  nee  euiquam  hominum  jus  suum  detrahi."  Ulpian,  De  Officiv  Pronon- 
tulis.  lib.  Vin  ;  De  Drmiinorum  SceviHa.  This  power  of  the  masters  over  their 
slaves  was  thus  latoi-  transforrnd  to  the  state. 


122  THE  MYSTERIES. 

the  high-born  citizen,  eligible  to*  the  Eleusinian  mysteries', 
could  be  sure  of  heaven.  There  could  be  no  peace  of 
mind  while  such  a  grievance  existed;  for  it  not  only 
goaded  the  greater  part  of  the  people  as  an  insult  but 
distracted  them  with  fears.  It  is  a  prominent  character- 
istic of  the  Aryan  race  to  believe  in  religion  and  build  up 
institutions  of  a  religious  nature;  and  it  will  probably  re- 
main so  unless  some  physical  discovery  be  made  throwing 
positive  light  against  the  theory  of  immortality.  At  the 
same  time  the  Indo-Europeans  were — precisely  as  they 
still  are — an  extremely  democratic  people  by  nature.  A 
religion,  then,  based  upon  the  most  absurdly  aristocratic 
dogmas  could  not,  without  great  conflict  maintain  itself 
among  the  equality-loving  Indo-Europeans.  Jesus  Christ 
during  his  visit  among  us  established  the  remarkable  idea 
that  Grod  was  no  respecter  of  persons ;  that  all  men  were 
created  equal;  that  although  the  elysion  and  tartaros  or 
the  heaven  and  hell  were  the  same,  the  eligibility  to  gain 
the  one  and  fly  the  other  depended  not  upon  stock,  birth, 
fortune,  but  behavior.  The  revolution  was  then  begun- 
When  we  understand  from  a  standpoint  of  scientific  so- 
ciology the  phenomena  of  the  past  thus  connected  with 
the  ancient  struggles  of  the  lowly,  there  bursts  forth  be- 
fore our  vision  a  glory  of  light  sweeping  away  hitherto- 
insurmountable  difficulties  to  the  analysis  of  certain  vague 
and  obscure  points  in  history. 

It  is  now,  after  having  opened  these  facts  thus  far,  in 
order  to  set  down  two  theorems :  The  first  is,  that  the 
greater  the  organization  of  the  working  classes  for  mutual 
protection  and  resistance  the  higher  the  standard  of  en- 
lightenment in  the  communities  they  inhabit.  In  other 
words  the  intensity  of  enlightenment  in  civilization  may 
be  measured  and  compared  by  the  numeric  proportion  of 
the  laboring  people  arrayed  in  organized  resistance  against 
ignorance,  and  oppression.  The  second  theorem  may  be 
construed  to  read  that  the  higher  the  enlightenment,  the 
more  complete  is  the  extinction  of  social  ranks. 

We  are  also  now  ready  to  make  an  announcement 
which  no  person  can  consistently  deny;  to  wit  :  that  the 
era  covered  by  the  ancient  trade  unions  is  that  known, 
sung  and  celebrated  as  the  "Golden  Age."  It  is  not  only 
the  era  of  military,  but  pre-eminently  of  social,  and  in 


THE  ANCIENT  SOCIAL    STATE.  123 

Greece,  of  intellectual  prosperity.  The  great  literary  era 
of  the  Romans  occupies  the  latter  half  of  the  celebrated 
golden  era.  It  lasted  from  the  days  of  Numa  Pompilius 
who  encouraged  the  free  organization  of  Roman  trade 
unions  which  was  about  690  years  before  Christ,  until  the 
year  58  B.  C.  when  Csesar  ordered  the  conspiracy  laws.16 
In  Greece  from  the  time  of  Solon  about  592  years  before 
Christ  it  continued  down  to  her  conquest  by  the  Romans. 
Thus  the  economical  prosperity  of  both  Greece  and 
Rome  is  proved  to  have  covered  those  centuries  which 
were  favored  with  the  right  of  free  organization.  We 
shall  now  proceed  to  touch  upon  the  actual  deeds  of  these 
unions  and  show  as  we  have  the  evidences  that  the  su- 
perb architectural  works  whose  august  ruins  still  amaze 
the  beholder  were,  to  some  extent  at  least,  the  handiwork 
of  those  trade  unions,  backed  by  that  phenomenal,  and  to 
the  present  age,  incomprehensible  social  state  which  never 
sold  its  lands,  religion,  jurisprudence  or  ornaments  to 
others,  nor  allowed  them  to  be  overridden  by  monopolies 
The  labor  of  land  culture — which  produced  and  distributed 
among  all  people  their  food — of  manufacturing  arms  and 
equipments  for  the  armies,  of  provisioning  the  armies 
while  on  the  march  and  at  rest,  of  manufacturing  and  re- 
pairing the  household  furniture,  of  image-making,  which 
appears  to  have  been  a  considerable  industry  and  of  con- 
structing architectural  works,  was  largely  assigned  to  the 
labor  unions  during  the  golden  age."  Numa  discouraged 
warfare,  but  made  specific  arrangements  governing  the 
artisan  class; 78  and  at  the  Saturnalia  obliterated  the  lines 
of  distinction  between  the  nobles  and  the  common  born, 
He  distributed  the  artisans  into  nine  great  mechanical 
fraternities.  Flavius  Josephus  "  gives  an  elaborate  and 
highly  interesting  account  of  the  building  of  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem  by  Solomon.  Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that  the 
employer,  Hiram,  who  was  engaged  by  Solomon  to  come 
with  his  skill  and  skilled  force  all  the  way  from  Tyre  a 
distance  of  about  100  miles,  to  design  and  construct  this 

"  Snetonius,  Catar,  42  :     "Cffisar  cuncta  collegia  pr»ter   antiqui tus   con- 
•tttuta  distrait." 

"Granier,  pp.  284-323,  all  through. 

'8 Plutarch,  Numa,  cap.  xvii.;     also  Lycurgus,  and  Numa  Compared. 

79  Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  book  XII.  cap.  ii. ;    also  Hilt,  of  the  Jew*, 

book  vm. 


124  SHE  MYSTERIES. 

magnificent  edifice,  was,  so  to  speak,  a  boss  or  chief  over 
a  trade  union,  which  through  him,  took  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  imposing  contracts  known  in  ancient  or 
modern  times;  and  it  is  a  very  interesting  example  of  the 
intelligence  and  extraordinary  enterprise  of  the  Phoenici- 
ans. We  are  not  among  those  eager  creduli  who  jump 
at  conclusions,  and  ready  to  suppose  that  this  Hiram  was 
the  founder  of  the  celebrated  ancient  fraternity  of  "  Free 
Masons."  On  the  contrary,  the  institution  was  old  when 
Hiram  brought  to  Solomon  the  3,200  foremen  and  the 
40,000  artificers  who  built  this  gorgeous  temple  of  which 
Josephus  so  glowingly  speaks.  But  this  immense  work 
being  a  religious  undertaking,  conducted  by  a  political 
decree  and  under  state  control,  and  furthermore  being  a 
Semitic,  not  an  Aryan  enterpiise  and  consequently  free 
from  the  mean,  rank  exclusivism  characterizing  and  belit- 
tling the  source-history  of  all  their  great  works,  was  able 
to  rise  and  carry  with  it  some  lucid  scintillae  as  to  the 
manner  of  its  erection.  The  great  temple  of  Solomon 
furnished  posterity  a  slight  glimpse  at  the  order  of  Free 
Masons ;  being  a  landmark  merely  observable  in  an  ob- 
scure night  of  time.  Its  ruins  may,  therefore,  be  truth- 
fully classed,  by  the  student  of  sociology,  as  archaeological 
proof  of  the  ancient  trade  union  movement.  By  this,  the 
mind  of  the  general  reader  may  better  understand  the 
source  of  that  all-pervading  cloud  which  so  unfortunately 
shuts  us  off  from  the  clues — to  say  nothing  of  the  history 
— regarding  the  construction  of  one  of  the  most  magnifi- 
cent works  of  sculptured  masonary  ever  produced.  The 
religio-political  institutions,  based  on  the  antithetic  origin 
of  birth  and  its  entailments  of  rank,  prevented  the  work- 
ingmen  from  rising  into  recognition,  or  transmitting  be- 
yond their  own  generation  any  detailed  knowledge  as  to 
how  those  structures  rose.  The  powerful  archon  Pericles, 
of  Athens,  furnished  us  an  illustration  of  this.  He  wanted 
to  build  the  Parthenon.  Now  Pericles,  the  statesman, 
building  a  church,  shows  that  no  difference  existed  be- 
tween church  and  state,  since  belief  was  compulsory  un- 
der law.  The  Parthenon  was  the  grandest  edifice  of  either 
the  ancient  or  modern  world.80  Although  Pericles  was  a 

«o  Guhl  and  Koner,  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Raman*,  pp.  2fi-2S. 


THE  BRILLIA NT  LOW-B ORN8.  125 

noble,  of  the  family  of  the  Pisistratidae,  yet  we  know  that 
he  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Phidias.  So  we  are  informed 
that  Solomon  enjoyed  the  acquaintance  of  Hiram.  This 
might  be,  though  Phidias  and  Hiram  were  both  of  mean 
extraction,  according  to  the  estimation  of  ranks.  But 
their  superiors  admired  them  for  their  genius  alone.  A 
wonderful  contrast  projects  from  a  coincidence  of  the  late 
mediaeval  age,  consisting  in  .Raphael's  intimacy  with  Pope 
Leo  X.,  for  at  the  time  of  Raphael,  Christianity  with  its 
inexorable  moral  erosions  had  gnawed  away  much  of  the 
ancient  ranks,  and  had  begun  to  invite  an  absolute  equal- 
ity ;  whereas,  in  the  more  ancient  times,  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Pagan  faith,  it  could  not  be  more  than  admira- 
tion and  acquaintance.  In  the  same  manner,  Pericles,  who 
was  the  master  political  genius  of  his  age,  could  admire 
and  keep  an  acquaintance  with  Aspasia,  a  lady  of  the 
lower  rank,  but  he  could  not  raise  her  by  any  gift  of  title 
to  a  higher  one  than  that  in  which  she  was  born. 

It  is  almost  certain  that  in  the  construction  of  the  Par- 
thenon, Ictinus  was  to  Pericles  what  Hiram  n  was  to  Solo- 
mon. Ictinus,82  we  are  told,  was  chief  architect,  and  with 
tlie  assistance  of  Callicrates  and  Phidias  who  worked  on 
the  chyselephantine  statue  of  Athena,  had  charge,  as 
chief  architect,  of  the  Parthenon  It  appears  "  that  Phi- 
dias took  the  entire  control  of  all  the  building  enterprises 
of  Athens  and  also,  probably  of  the  temple  of  Eleusis;  for 
Ictinus  built  the  fane  of  this  temple.  We  are  now  cen- 
tering upon  the  interesting  point  of  our  investigation.  It 
took  Phidias,  Ictinus  and  Callicrates  ten  years  to  design 
and  complete  the  new  Parthenon,  the  most  magnificent 
and  imposing  structure  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  More 
fortunate  are  we  in  having  Josephus  and  other  authority 
for  the  temple  of  Solomon  whereon  not  only  the  chief 
architect,  but  3,200  foremen  and  40,000  masons  of  the 
great  "  body  "  or  masons'  fraternity  were  engaged.84 

At  the  Piraeus  there  existed,  at  the  time  of  the  building 
of  the  Parthenon,  great  numbers  of  trade  unions,*5  under 

81  Care  should  be  taken  not  to  confound  Hiram  the  artificer  with  his  friend 
Hiram  the  king.  HGuhl  and  Koner,  Idem,  p.  26. 

«3  Pausanias,  Hdladog  Periegeti*,  (Description  of  Greece). 

M  Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jewt,  book  VII.  chap,  ii,  In  latin  the  "body" 
corpus,  was  a  legalized  workingmen's  society,  the  same  as  cclleyium.  See  Orelli, 
Inter.  Vol.  III.  Henzen,  p.  170,  oi  supplement  index. 

"See  Chapter  I.  oi  Liiders  Dianysitche  KunsUer,  pp.  14-18. 


126  THE   MYSTERIES. 

•a  provision  of  So'o  i  engraved  on  wooden  scrolls  and  kept 
in  the  Acropolis  ^n  1  the  Prytaneum,  which  were  legalized 
organizations  and  whose  recognized  business  was  to  wort 
.for  the  state.  Now  with  the  multitudes  of  trade  unions, 
existing  all  around,  at  Athens,  at  the  Piraeus,  at  Eleusis- 
is  it  supposable  that  the  three  directors  built  the  parthe. 
non  in  ten  years?  Instead  of  the  3,200  foremen  and  40- 
000  men  as  at  Jerusalem,  there  were  probably  at  Athens 
4,000  foremen  and  50,000  masons,  sculptors,  draftsmen, 
hod  carriers,  laborers  and  others  too  numerous  to  detail. 
We  find  that  this  great  public  work  was  finished  438  years 
before  Christ,  just  at  the  time  when  the  golden  age  of 
labor  was  at  its  zenith  of  glory  both  in  Greece  and  Rome. 

It  was  the  golden  age  of  art  and  economic  thrift.  It 
also  corresponds  exactly  with  the  stretch  of  time  during 
which  the  trade  unions  under  the  laws  of  Solon  at  Athens 
and  of  Numa  at  Rome  were  in  fullest  force,  granting  and 
encouraging  organization  of  the  working  people,  which 
was  used  by  them  for  protection  and  for  resistance  to  all 
dangers  that  might  beset  them. 

It  is  thus  shown  that  while  a  serious  grievance  existed 
among  the  working  people  of  andlent  Greece,  in  form  of 
an  exclusivism  denying  them  the  right  to  save  their  souls 
by  becoming  members  on  equal  footing  in  the  Eleusinian 
order,  there  also  existed  a  vast  organization  or  confrater- 
-nity  which,  then  as  now,  afforded  them  opportunities  for 
meeting  in  secret  and  discussing  this  grievance.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  even  to  conjecture  whether  they  did  or 
did  not  use  these  advantages  for  such  discussion.  Human 
nature  is  alike  in  all  ages.  When  the  conspiracy  law,  or 
law  of  Elizabeth,  was  annulled  in  1824,88  permitting  the 
people  to  organize  in  England,  they  immediately  took  ad- 
vantage of  every  opportunity  trade  unionism  afforded, 
wherewith  to  discuss  their  grievances.  The  growth  and 
intelligence  of  the  ponderous  labor  movement  in  the 
United  States  is  largely  due  to  the  discussion  which  is 
constantly  taking  place  in  their  secret  unions.  We  ven- 
ture that  the  same  thing  occurred  in  the  times  we  are  de- 
scribing; because  it  could  not  well  have  been  otherwise. 
Where  the  grievance  exists  and  the  opportunity  to  meet 

MThorold  Rogers,  Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages,  p.  438    As  to  the  nature 
•of  the  act  of  Elizabeth,  see  idem,  pp.  398-9.    Cf.  Porter's  Progress  of  the  Nation. 


THE  LAW   OF   ORGANIZATION.  127 

and  discuss  it  exists,  it  is  not  in  the  order  of  nature  among 
intelligent  beings,  to  resist  it.  We  are  fortunate  enough 
to  have  found  statements  upon  the  subjects  of  trade  unions 
transmitted  to  us  through  great  authority.  Gaius,  who 
wrote  a  digest  of  law  on  the  Twelve  Tables,  has  a  passage 
which  has  been  preserved  and  so  important  is  it  that 
both  Granier  and  Mommsen  refer  to  it  as  conclusive  evi- 
dence that  the  law  of  the  Twelve  Tables  providing  for  the 
right  among  working  people  to  organize  and  enjoy  trade 
unions,  was  to  some  extent  a  translation  from  Greek  tables 
of  the  code  of  Solon.81  In  this  passage  are  mentioned  many 
organizations  taken  from  the  Greek  text  inscribed  on 
the  scroll  of  the  law  of  Solon  and  also  on  the  tablet  of  the 
Twelve  Tables.  The  Thiasotai  then  were  precisely  in 
Greek  what  the  Collegia  were  in  Latin.  The  sailors' 
unions  here  mentioned  were  the  same  which  we  speak  of 
elsewhere  as  existing  in  large  numbers  at  the  Pirseus  or  sea- 
port of  Athens  which  was  distant  from  the  metropolis  only 
five  miles.  The  organizations  of  the  stone  masons,  the 
marble  cutters,  the  carvers,  the  image  makers  of  wood 
mineral  and  ivory,  and  others,  were  located  within  the 
city.  Some  of  these  unions,  probably  the  image  makers, 
pretended  more  religious  piety  than  others;  but  the  fact 
is,88  that  all  of  them  were  combined  for  mutual  aid  and  re- 
sistance against  grievances.  Under  the  law,  so  long 
as  they  did  Hot  corrupt  the  statutes  of  the  country  (udum 
ne  quid  ex  publica  lege  corrumpant,"  )  they  were  not  only 
allowed  to  career  unmolested  but  were  even  protected  by 
this  provision  of  the  great  lawgivers. 

This  brings  us  face  to  face  with  two  proven  facts:  that 

87  Digest,  lib.  XLVII.  tit.  xxii.  leg.  4;    "Sodales  sunt  qiui  ejusdein  collegil 
Bunt  quam  Gravel  irapiav  vocant."  Again:  "Sodalibus,"  ait  Gaius,  "potestatem 
facie  lex  (duodecim  Tabularum)  pactionem  quamvelint  sibi  ferre.  dum  ne  quid 
ex  publica  lege  corrumpant."    Sed  hffic  lex  yidetur  ex  lege  Solonis  translata 
ease;    nam  illuc  ita  est :     "E'&vSe  Sij/ttos,  >j  ^parpoes,  rj  iepwp  opyiiav,    i)  va.vra.ri, 
avvtriToi,  T)  O|tidTa<J>(H,  17  iJioffwrai,  t)  en-t  Ai'av  Oty 4ft trot,  17  ei?  ttiiropiav-  O'TI  ravrwv 
Sia&uprac.  jrpos    aAAijAovs.    nvpiov  t'ivai,  cav    ju.i)    djrayopevoT;    &rj/j.6(ria  ypa.fiiJ.ara.' 
Both  Mommsen  (De  Cotlegiis  et  Sodahciis  Romanorum,  p.  35,)  and  Granier,  Hist, 
des   Classes  Ouvrieres,p.  291,  quote  this  remarkable  passage  from  the  Digest. 
The  unions  here  mentioned  in  the  Solonic  law  are  the  Brotherhood   the  Priests  of 
the  Communes,  the  Sailors,  the  Co-operators,  the  Burial  Fraternities;  and  the  reg- 
ular trade  unions  or  diacriarai  such  as  were  organized  in  the  categories  of  Nunia 

88  Mommsen,  De  Collegiit  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum,  p.  35,     " Ut  igitur  de  in- 
terpretatione  verbi  a  XII.  Tabulis  adhibiti  non  constet,  Gaii  verba  ad  omnia  col- 
legia pertinere  certum  est  neque  ulla  ratio  reddi  videtur  posse,  cur  collegia  opi- 
flcum  legum  ferendarum  jure  caruerint  sacris  sodalitatibus  concesso."  See  also 
Liiders,  Die  Dinoysischen  Kunstler,  passim.    These  points  are  overwhelming  in 
proof  that  the  Greek  and  Roman  trade  union  systems  were  nearly  identical. 


128  THE  MYSTERIES. 

during  the  renowned  era  of  Grecian  architecture,  belles-let- 
tres, philosophy,  sculp ture,  paintings — all  work  of  labor- 
ers— there  also  flourished  a  great  labor  movement;  just  as 
now  in  England,  in  Germany,  in  France,  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  during  the  most  brilliant  period  of  all 
human  enlightenment,  ancient  or  modern,  there  flour- 
ishes an  enormous  social  organization  for  self-help  and 
for  resistance  against  grievance  endured  by  working  peo- 
ple. It  also  proves  the  correctness  of  our  theorems  that 
the  greater  the  organization  of  the  laboring  people  against 
grievances  the  higher  the  enlightenment,  and  the  higher 
the  enlightenment  the  more  complete  the  extinction  of  so- 
cial rank ;  consequently  the  intensity  of  human  civiliza- 
tion viewed  on  the  largest  scale,  is,  under  the  competitive 
system,  to  be  ascertained  by  the  prevalence  or  non-pre- 
valence of  these  organizations,  acting  as  mutually  self-aid- 
ing forces  and  as  tribunals  or  courts  of  appeal  from  the 
grievances  their  members  are  liable  to  suffer.  How  inef- 
fable, then,  the  arrogance  of  a  paltry  few !  What  must 
have  been  the  character  of  resistance  during  the  times  of 
which  we  speak  ?  Evidently  very  crude.  At  the  present 
day  there  is  much  system ;  a  general  interlinking  of  union 
with  union,  no  matter  how  wide  apart,  for  a  quite  clearly 
expressed  common  cause.  Not  so  anciently,  although  we 
have  an  inscription  at  Pompeii  to  prove  that  in  B.  G.  79 
there  existed  an  international  union.  Their  grievances 
were  greater  than  now,  because  social  equality  was  con- 
temptously  and  most  openly  put  down.  The  Jaw  recog- 
nized them  as  having  no  more  claim  to  citizenship  than 
dogs.  Now,  in  Germany,  France,  almost  everywhere,  the 
working  people  are  voting. 

Whoever,  in  reading  the  tt  Ancient  Assemblies,"  w  for  a 
moment  imagines  that  those  celebrated  gatherings  in- 
cluded the  slaves  or  freednten,  should  read  more  carefully. 
It  is  the  freemen  who  are  meant,  not  freedmen.  The  differ- 
ence was  simply  infinite,  even  in  enlightened  Attica;  for 
freedmen  were  descendants  of  the  ancient  slaves.  They 
never  were  citizens,  could  not  vote,  could  not  hope,  except 
in  cases  of  great  genius  like  that  of  Phidias,  to  be  decently 

SsSchomann,  Hist.  AssemblM*  of  the  AOitnlaru,  pcusim.  This  book  will  clear 
np  any  error  readers  may  entertain  who  doubts  whether  the  working  class  was 
all-  wed  a  voice  in  legislation. 


NA TURE  OF  DISCUSSION  AMONG  TEE  L  0  WL  7.    129 

spoken  to;  and  even  as  such  they  were  obliged  to  obtain 
gome  special  decree  from  the  Areopagus  in  order  to  detach 
themselves  from  this  scathing  odium  of  rank.  Being  so 
mean,  so  lowly,  while  the  patricians,  the  grandees,  the  free- 
men were  descendants  of  the  nobility  in  the  direct  lineage 
of  the  gods,  it  followed  that  the  gods  also  contemned  them. 
Consequently  two-thirds  of  the  population  of  Greece  were 
without  a  soul.  If  they  claimed  to  have  souls  they  knew 
that  the  only  place  for  them  was  Tartarus  or  hell;  certainly 
not  heaven ;  for  that  was  the  abode  of  the  gods  who  spurned 
them  on  account  of  their  lowly  birth.  Better  cultivate  the 
belief  that  they  had  no  souls  at  all!  This  to  them,  terrible 
reflection,  was  probably  the  origin  of  the  ancient  philosophy 
of  annihilation."  The  philosophy  of  extinction  of  the  sou' 
mast  have  consumed  a  share  of  the  discussions  of  those  an- 
cient mechanics  in  their  secret  meetings.  They  built  the 
magnificent  temples  which  glowed  with  genial  warmth  of 
the  solemn  and  haughty  religion,  only  for  the  heaven-born, 
repelling  with  sullen  frowns  the  earth-born  designers  and 
finishers  of  their  collonades,  vaults  and  sculptured  images. 
No  merely  political  institution  could  possibly  separate  so 
widely  one  class  from  another  as  did  that  arrogant  religion 
which  not  only  instituted  slavery  of  the  laboring  people  but 
denied  them  an  immortal  soul  and  the  beatitudes  of 
heaven.91  There  is  now  no  grievance  of  this  kind  iu  civil- 
ized existence — although  economical  and  social  dissatis- 
faction remains.  The  new  religion  is  rapidly  extinguishing 
the  dogma  of  distinctions  in  birth,  as  well  as  the  dogma 
that  "the  earth-born  have  no  immortal  existence."* 

Narrowing  the  array  of  evidence  into  our  leghimate  field, 
we  find  in  Eleusis  a  target  at  which  millions  are  peering 
with  a  mingling  of  longing,  of  envy  and  of  hate.  They  are 

so  Consult  Lucretius,  De  Renm  ffatura ;  also  Arnobius,  who  wrote  the  fa- 
mous Adversut  Gtntti.  Arnobius  was  not  fully  convinced  of  Christianity  ;  and 
at  the  same  time  his  mind  was  evidently  so  enlarged  by  it  that  he  could  not 
reconcile  it  with  the  older  Pagan  belief  in  the  nether  post-mortem  abodes.  He 
was  however,  religiously  inclined  and  was  reluctantly  drawn  to  Christianity 
which  obliterated  all  lines  by  declaring  the  equality  of  all  mankind.  \  Between 
these  awful  donbts  Arnobius  seems  never  to  have  come  to  a  belief  in  an  immortal 
existence.  Pliny  the  celebrated  naturalist  was  a  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  Lu- 
cretius that  there  is  no  existence  hereafter.  Cf.  Cuvier  in  Kbliog.  CntttarjielJe. 

»i  Granier,  Hitt.  Whole  argument :  FusteldeC«ulanges,Ctfe^in&gi(«.  XointelD- 
gent  person  can  read  these  invaluable  works  without  understanding  our  meaning. 

=•:  Whatever  science  may  or  may  not  develop  regarding  these  debatable 
theories  is  not  the  part  of  this  disquisition  to  consider.  We  simply  give  th« 
facts  at  command,  as  to  the  difference  between  the  grievances  discussed  bj 
the  organizations  of  then  and  now. 


ISO  THE  MYSTERIES. 

the  two-thirds  of  the  population  of  the  country — the  labor- 
ing ranks.  There,  upon  a  lovely  range  of  rock  and  lawn 
stands  the  old  Pelasgian  city  of  Eleusis,  populous  and  thick- 
studded  with  their  own  eranoi  and  thiasoi,  labor  unions 
whose  members  are  the  strong-muscled  men  of  Greece.  It 
is  the  eve  of  autumn,  the  great  quinquennal  Boedromion 
which  from  traditions  brought  mystic  meanings  picturing 
the  fierce  amazons  in  flight  before  the  conquering  giants  of 
Theseus.  It  is  the  last  half  of  shimmering  September 
whose  delicious  zephyrs  float  the  gossamers  above  the  sea. 
All  the  world  knows  that  on  the  morrow  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  people  are  to  leave  the  Athenian  metropolis 
behind  them  and  commence  their  crusade  to  the  Eleusinian 
feast.  They  are  the  eligibles,  the  citizens,  the  freemen. 
Not  a  being  from  among  the  laboring  and  lowly  class  can 
be  permitted  hardly  to  join  the  great  procession.  Fond  of 
privilege  but  barred  its  enjoyment  they  gather  in  their  best 
rags,  upon  the  scene  and  form  iu  a  standing  multitude  along 
the  line  of  march.  No  care  has  ever  been  bestowed  upon 
their  education  and  they  are  in  consequence,  rough,  per- 
haps boisterous  and  insulting.  As  the  procession  moves 
along  they  pelt  the  crusaders  with  sticks  and  stones."  They 
feel  the  deep  disgrace  of  their  exclusion  and  are  animated 
with  unhappy  feelings  and  hatred  and  revenge.  They 
turn  their  eyes  toward  the  magnificent  temple  of  Megaron, 
built M  by  their  own  hands,  of  marble  quarried  from  the 
rock  near  by.96  It  is  pre-eminently  the  most  majestic  work 
of  their  handicraft,  standing  solemn  and  alone  like  a  myster- 
ious winged  creature,  striking  awe  by  its  very  presence 
and  as  though  a  ghostly  apparation  which  had  surged  from 
the  dark  pits  of  the  sea.96  To  the  left  loomed  up  a  view  of 

»»  When,  as  the  fable  goes,  Ceres  left  king  Celeus  and  went  to  the  old  temple, 
lambe,  her  female  slave,  ridiculed  her.  Ever  afterwards  at  the  ayupftos  or  day 
of  march  at  the  crusades,  the  lower  or  excluded  classes  met  on  the  wayside  with 
stones,  clubs  and  ridicule. 

w  Consult  Rose,  Inscriptions  Graces  Vetustissima,  pp.  187-190. 

ss  Idem,  p.  187,  note  ;  "E  duro  quodam  marmoris  genere  (quale  prope  Eleu- 
siniem  invenitur.")  Likewise  the  description  of  the  great  temple,  by  Guhl 
and  Koner,  LAfe  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  pp.  47-49. 

»«  "Prope  oleam  erat  puteus  aquae  saisar-.  (ed\a<ro-a  Epex01?'?/1  -1'iam  sub  fla- 
tum  noti  surrto  murmore  fluctunm  instar  strepere,  narrabant  Athenicnses. 
Ipse  silicet  Noptuuus  hauc  voraginorn  aperuerat  tridente.  cujus  adhu  ••  vos-tig- 
lum  In  BBXO  vivo  exjiressum  restabat.  De  fonte  salso  noii  dubitai-e.  Nam  et 
alius  in  arce  fons  aqux  amarae  qui  etesiarum  flatu  — sub  ortum  fauicula;  — 
impleri,  postea  considers  solebat,  Clepsydra  dictus."  Ifcter.  Ap.  Schol.  Jris- 
ophanis,  Av.  1693,  p.  63.  Though  this  superstition  may  have  been  based  at 
the  acropolis,  it  is  evident  that  the  horrors  of  it  oame  from  o!d  Eieusls :  be- 
sides Erehcthois  was  the  j»r  este^  ir.  charge  of  the  Eleu.sin  an  n  tiatkms. 


CRUSADERS  CLUBBED   AND  STONED.       131 

the  noble pronaos  whose  fluted  columns  towered  high,  hold- 
ing their  graceful  architraves,  and  culminating  in  those  ex- 
quisite Corinthian  capitals  of  the  pilasters,  celebrated 
throughout  the  world  tor  the  beauty  and  richness  of  their 
carvings.  Their  own  Ictinus,  guiding  their  own,  or  their 
ancestors'  toil  had  built  the  huge,  but  forbidding  tdesterium 
and  conclave  where  those  mysterious  initiations  and  de- 
grees were  conferred;  not  upon  them,  but  upon  those  born 
worthy  of  the  honor.  Their  own  Xenocles  was  the  master 
mason  who  had  led  them  through  a  labyrinth  of  toil  which 
produced  the  lordly,  throne-like  anactoron  were  dewlt  the 
immortal  Ceres.  Their  own  master  sculptor,  Metagenes  had 
directed  their  skillful  hands  through  the  mazes  of  sculpture 
which  produced  those  soft  and.  charming  friezes,  and  reared 
the  upper  columns  on  which  rest  the  vast  entablatures  with 
their  architraves  and  frettings.  Led  by  such  masters  who 
have  come  down  to  fame  as  the  genius  of  classic  architec- 
ture, wage-earners  had  delved  for  more  than  a  decade  of 
years  to  fashion  the  home  of  the  Mystagogoi,  those  fav- 
ored priests  who  repulsed  them  with  bitterest  scorn  and  all 
others  who  could  not  bring  proof  that  for  three  generations 
at  least,  they  had  never  disgraced  themselves  by  the  social 
blight  of  labor.  These  were  the  thanks  the  ancient  lowly 
received  for  building  those  enduring  and  exquisite  monu- 
ments of  art. 

No  wonder  then,  that  as  the  procession  moved  down  from 
the  acropolis  to  the  sea,  the  outcasts,  uncultured,  unrefined, 
enslaved,  treated  the  haughty  initiates  with  brickbats  and 
jeers.  There  were  quarrels  about  this  grievance;  but  so 
dark  has  the  historian  been  upon  the  subject  that  we  are 
unable  to  obtain  further  positive  data  thaa  these  we  quote. 
But  what  we  do  know  sheds  light  upon  the  causes  of  a 
great  change  which  in  course  of  time  came  into  the  world; 
a  change  that  planted  the  seed  of  revolution.  It  was  a  re- 
ligio-political  state  based  upon  legalized  pretentions,  and 
assumed  absolute  rights  of  less  than  one-third  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  Indo-European  world  and  the  absolute  non- 
recognition  and  social,  political  and  hierarchical  ostracism 
of  the  other  two-thirds  of  the  population  on  whose  labor 
they  depended  for  their  food,  clothing,  shelter  and  worship. 

A  word  more  may  suffice  to  close  this  chapter.  Our  ob- 
ject in  saying  so  much  has  been  to  exhibit  the  double  srriev- 


132  THE    MYSTERIES. 

ance  suffered  by  the  religious  as  well  as  the  social  and  eco- 
nomic tyranny  of  ancient  society  over  the  laboring  people. 
From  the  time  labor  organizations  began,  until  the  era  of 
the  sophists,  no  one  can  tell  the  ages  that  elapsed.  The  so- 
phists and  philosophers  began  their  work  in  Greece  five 
centuries  before  Christ.  They  were  revolutionists  so  far  as 
they  dared  go.  The  general  movement  of  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle must  though  conflicting,  certainly  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  world.  It  worked  enorm- 
ously in  the  direction  of  preparing  mankind  for  the  revolu- 
tion— the  change  from  a  condition  of  slavery  of  the  useful 
laboring  masses  to  one  of  complete  social,  political  and 
spiritual  recognition  and  equality.  Plato  was  a  slave 
owner.  He  was  so  proud  that  he  disdained  to  accept 
money  for  his  services  as  a  teacher,  preferring  to  accept 
presents  from  the  wealthy  young  students  under  his  charge 
— the  reverse  of  what  in  our  own  times  is  considered  pro- 
per. Had  Plato  thus  lived  and  acted  just  before  our  mod- 
ern war  of  the  rebellion  he  would  have  been  called  a  slave- 
driving  hypocrite  by  abolitionists  at  the  North,  and  a  cant- 
ing moralist  by  the  people  at  the  South.  He  was  of  neither 
party.  Even  the  workingmen  of  his  own  times  hated  him. 
What  he  did  was  probably  equilibrated  both  between  sym- 
pathy and  diplomacy,  largely  tempered  by  sympathy  and 
conscience  and  on  the  whole,  working  all  the  radical  good 
which  the  times  would  permit.  The  world  is  better  for 
thip  celebrated  advocate  of  slavery  having  lived ;  for  on  the 
whole,  though  he  could  not  see  any  way  possible  of  ex- 
punging this  horrid  social  ulcer  of  slavery  from  his  republic, 
his  sympathy  got  the  better  of  acquisitiveness  and  like  all 
the  teachers  of  that  era,  he  melted  the  brutal  spirit  which 
in  Sparta  instigated  such  inhuman  cruelties  toward  the  la- 
boring class.  All  over  Attica  they  were  treated  with  com- 
parative tenderness  and  consideration  and  though  they  suf- 
fered the  grievances  we  have  described,  yet  they  shared  the 
age  of  philosophy  and  art  as  an  age  peculiarly  their  own 
in  organization  and  plenty.  It  was  their  Golden  age  of 
equality.  We  do  not  mean  exact  equality  or  similarity  in 
the  physical  and  intellectual  sense ;  for  nothing  could  be  more 
absurd.  We  mean  by  it  the  extinction  of  those  aristocratic 
lines  which  pride,  egoism  and  greed  had  so  long  held  as  a 
basis  of  religion  and  of  state. 


CHAPTER  V. 

STRIKES  AN  D  UPRISINGS. 

GRIEVANCES  CONTINUED.    PLANS  OF  ESCAPE. 

FIRST  KNOWN  and  First  Tried  Plan  of  Salvation  was  that  of  Retal- 
iation— The  Slaves  test  the  Ordeal  of  Armed  Force — Irasci- 
bility of  the  Working  Classes  at  length  arrayed  against  their 
Masters — Typical  Strikes  of  the  ancient  Workingmen — Their 
Inhuman  Treatment — Famous  Strike  at  the  Silver  Diggings 
of  Laurium — 20,000  Artisans  and  Laborers  quit  Work  in  a 
Body  and  go  over  to  the  Foes  of  their  own  Countrymen — 
The  Q-reat  Peloponnesian  War  Decided  for  the  Spartans, 
against  the  Athenians  by  this  Fatal  Strike. 


IN  ancient  Greece,  Sicily  and  Rome  there  occurred  great 
and  disastrous  strikes.  The  character  of  the  elements  caus- 
ing these  disturbances  varied  greatly  from  that  of  the  mod- 
ern strikers.  Quite  the  reverse  of  our  modern,  the  ancient 
strikers  were  either  slaves  or  freedmen  descended  from 
such,  and  in  a  condition  of  extreme  lowliness  but  often  so 
intelligent  that  not  with  standing  the  odds  against  them  they 
sometimes  out-generaled  their  masters  and  obtained  for  a 
long  period  of  time,  even  years,  against  wealth,  priesthood 
and  military  force.  The  reasons  for  this  we  have  already 
explained  but  may  appropriately  repeat.  Tiie  slaves  and 
freedmen  were  mostly  men  of  their  masters'  own  blood. 
They  were  of  the  same  race,  color  and  natural  intelligence. 
They  used  the  same  languages,  were  accustomed  to  the 
same  roads  and  fields,  knew  the  cliffs,  grottoes,  forests  and 
jungles;  and  there  being  no  firearms  or  other  instruments 
of  destruction  which  in  our  modern  warfare  throw  the  bal- 
ance of  power  into  the  hands  of  the  most  disciplined  rather 


134  STRIKE  OF  THE  ANCIENT  MINERS. 

than  the  most  numerous,  they  sometimes  triumphed  for  a 
time  by  dint  of  numbers. 

During  the  Peloponnesian  war  a  great  strike  of  the  work- 
ing people  occurred  in  and  about  the  silver  mines  of  Laur- 
ium,1  B.  C.  413.  It  may  be  well  here  to  enumerate  some 
of  the  grievances  inciting  them  to  this  desperate  resolve 
which  they  knew  perfectly  well  beforehand,  would,  unless 
they  succeeded,  terminate  in  their  death  by  tortures  of  the 
most  inhuman  artifices  the  maddened  cruelty  of  greedy 
money-getters  could  invent.  Nearly  all  the  slaves  and  other 
working  people,  laborers  and  artificers  engaged  in  this  enor- 
mous strike,  were  intelligent  people.  Some  were  persons 
who  were  slaves  by  the  misfortune  of  birth  ; 2  others  were 
prisoners  of  war  reduced  by  violence  to  slavery.  Still 
others  were  slaves  as  merchandise  brought  to  the  mines  by 
the  vicissitudes  of  traffic  ;  and  lastly  and  worst,  there  were 
large  numbers  who  were  convicts,  condemned  to  work  in 
the  mines  under  the  lash  of  brutal  hireling  overseers  of  con- 
tractors *  who  worked  these  mines  on  leases  from  the  gov- 
ernment to  which  they  paid  one  twentieth  of  the  proceeds. 
It  was  a  great  grievance  to  the  intelligent  workingmen  to 
be  goaded  by  the  knowledge  that  he  was  a  social  monstros- 
ity.4 Men  now  recoil  at  the  sight  of  a  slave  because  he  is 
the  rare  relic  of  an  institution  which  human  wisdom  and 
sympathy  have  outstripped,  outlived,  outgrown  in  the  glori- 

i  Thucydides  De  Bella  Peloponesiaco,  VII.  27:  "AtaUovro  Se  icai  epaKuv  rSar 
fiaxcupocuopujc  roO  AiaxoC  ytvovt  if  rat  Adijvav.freA.TaerTai  ev  TO!  avrta  #cpei  rovrtf 
TpiaKoffioi  »cat  xiAioi,  Otis  efiei  T«j>  Ar^otrt^cVci  if  TTJV  SiKcAtap  £ vfiirActy.  oi  &'  'A#ijf- 
«uoi,  <i>v  va-repov  fiicov,  Sttvoovvro  avTou?  ira\iv  oijev  rjAtfoi'  «  Qptfxrjv  airoitfiJ.ir(iv. 
TO  yap  €X«t"  wpbs  TOP  etc  T^S  A«K«A«ias  iro\(fj.ov  auTous  iroAuT«Aef  i<paivtTO%  £paX~ 
/1>J|'  yap  Tijs  TJficpaf  «icao-TO$  cAa/u.j8av«i'.  eircijt)  yap  r)  Acxt'Acia  TO  fiiv  TtpiaTOV  viro 
itaa-rfi  T^s  o-rpaTtas  iv  T<a  i^e'pet  TOVTW  Tei^ier^eicTa,  virrtpov  Si  wpovpalf  aTrb  rlav 
foXtiav  na.ro.  SiaSo\itv  XP°VOV  €»riouo-at?  TJJ  xaipaejrwAcerTO,  iroAAa  e^Aarrre  TOW?  'A*ij 
yalOVf  xai  iv  Tolf  TrpwTOif  xpijfiaTiof  T'  oAc'dpu  xai  avdpiairiav  wdopa  cxaxuxre  TO. 
vpayiJiara.  irporfpov  ftev  yap  /Spa^ciai  yi.yvott.fai  ai  <o-/3oAai  TOI*  aAAov  \povov 
TIJ?  YTJC  airoAavciv  ovx  CKcaAvov  TOTC  £e  £vvt\u>v  ctrtKai^>)^cvwv,  xal  OTC  nlv  icat 
v\toviav  iviovTuv,  ori  &'  ef  ayayKiji  T>jt  ZOTJS  wpoupas  icaTat?eov<rr)s  Te  TTJI*  \iuppv 
Kai  Ano"T«'a?  >rotov/ien)5,  poo-iAcwt  T«V  irapdrot  TOU  TUV  AunjcUftOfu**  *Ayt5os,  of 
OVK  «ie  irap«you  TOV  TrdAt/iOv  CITOKITO,  ueyaAa  oi  'A^vaiot  e/SAajrroi'TO'  TTJS  T«  yap 
^ujpas  aJraorTjs  i<TTepr)VTO  <cai  ai'5pa?rd5w>'  n-Af'ot'  17  6uo  fj.vpia&fs  lyuTOfioAjjKeo'ai',  icap 
TOVTOV  TO  woAir  uepos  xeipor^vat,  wpoftara  ft  itavra  an-oAuAei  Kai  iuro^uyia-  i'lTTri 
Te,  oo~T)jU.<pat  <f eAauvoirwi'  TUP  iwiriiof  Trpci?  T«  TTJK  AcxeAeiac  KaraSpo^as  ^oiof/xtriov 
cat  icaTa  rrfv  \iapav  <fV\a<r<r6vT<av,  oi  p.iv  airt\u>\ovvTO  tv  yjj  aTtOKporif  re  Ka- 
fuf(x"J?  ToAaiTrupoui'Tet,  oi  6'  cTCTpwovcoi'TO. 
Xenophon,  De  Vectigal.  IV.  26. 

«Granier  de  Cassagnac,  Hlstoire  des  Clastes  Ouvritres,  chap.  iii. 

4  Plutarch,  Nwias  and  Crassus  Compared,  1. 

4  Drumann.  Arbeiter  und  Communisten  in  Griechenland  und  Rom,  S.  24; 
Bbckh,  Public  Economies  of  the  Athenians,  p,  263,  lor  instances  of  rr. en  own- 
ins  f,'reat  numbers  of  slaves ;  See  also  Bockh's  Lauritche  Silberbergwerke  in  At- 
tika,  passim. 


XO  SUXDA7  FOR   WOREINGMEN.  135 

ous  race  of  enlightenment.  Even  at  that  ear'y  age  the 
slave's  servitude  was  the  source  of  his  own  intelligent  dis- 
gust; for  covered  as  he  was  with  the  indelible  brands  and 
scars  of  systematic  mutilation,  and  decrepit  in  premature 
age  through  blows  and  strains  of  violence  and  overwork,  his 
mind  remained  unimpaired,  often  edged  to  consciousness  of 
its  own  incompatibility  with  this  state  of  degradation.  The 
poor  creatures  were  never  allowed  to  eat  white  bread.* 
There  were  no  Sundays  for  them.  Of  the  365  days  they 
were  forced  to  delve  360.  Sometimes  the  government 
owned  them  and  subbed  them  with  the  mines  themselves  to 
the  contractors,  following  the  plan  of  Xenophon,7  who  some- 
times thus  worked  great  numbers  at  a  time.  Often,  how- 
ever, the  rich  contractor  himself  owned  laboring  men  with 
whom  to  operate  the  mines.  Thus  Nicias  owned  a  thou- 
sand slaves,8  Mnason  also  owned  a  thousand.9  The  ancients 
appear  to  have  had  a  species  of  passion  for  seeing  acts  of 
brutality  and  cruelty. 

Wakes  are  of  great  antiquity.  Originally  they  were  pub- 
lic fights  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  an  important  mem- 
ber of  a  gens  family,  in  which  the  combatants  were  his 
slaves  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  survived  him.  All  the  fam- 
ily, its  slaves  and  their  children,  perhaps  also  the  community 
not  allied  by  blood,  were  summond  to  see  what  in  our  re- 
fined age  would  not  only  be  repellent  cruelties,  but  intol- 
erable ones — a  tight  to  the  death,  of  slaves  of  the  deceased, 
with  daggers  and  clubs.10  The  first  combat  on  record  of 
this  kind  occurred  in  B.  C.  264,  arranged  by  the  brothers 
Brutus.11  B  it  authors  agree  that  the  practice  comes  from 
much  more  remote  antiquity ;  and  mention  of  it  is  made 
here  to  prepare  the  reader  to  understand  some  of  the  causes 

s  Qranier,  de  Cass.    Hist.  Ouvrieres,  p.  98, who  gives  references. 

•  Biicher  Aufgtande  der  unfreien  Arbeitf.r,  S.  96 ;  Xenoph.  Memorab.  111.  6,  12. 
For  360  days  in  the  year  those  poor  working  peou'.e.  male  and  female,  had 
to  drucl'/e.  Xenophon.  4.  16;  Bo  kh,  Silberbergwerke,  S.  125. 

'  Xenophon,  De  Vectigal.  cap.  iv. 

»Bucher,  Aufstande,  etc.  S.  96;  Drumann  Arbeiler  wnd  Communisten,  §§. 
11-23. 

»B6ckh,  Public  Economies  of  the  Athenians,  p.  263.  The  celebrated  plan  of 
Xenophon  for  replen^hing  the  Athenian  treasury  (De  Vectigal.  cap.  iv. )  was 
to  have  the  state  put  60,000  of  its  own  slaves  on  the  ^tate  silver  mine:)  of 
Lar.T.um,  to  be  leased  to  contra  tors,  He  even  ive<  figures  on  the  presim 
able  income  from  this  plan  of  rel:ef  to  the  state. 

10  Frie -.lander,  Darslellungen  au«  der  SMengescliichte  Horns,  II.  216. 

11  Guhl  and  Koner,  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.    We  ^ive  references  to 
modern  authors  so  th'U  readers  not  conversant  with  the  original  languages 
may  get  them  and  satisfy  thomselvej. 


136  STRIKE    AT  THE   SILVER   MINES. 

\ 

lurking  at  the  bottom  of  the  evil  of  ancient  strikes  and  up- 
risings. Gibbon  relates  the  horrible  story  of  the  Syracusian, 
Jj.  Pomitius.™  One  of  the  poor,  innocent  slaves  during  his 
prsetorship,  one  day  while  assisting  in  the  chase,  killed  a 
wild  boar  of  enormous  size  and  very  dangerous.  The  dar- 
ing deed  got  noised  about  until  it  reached  the  ear  of  Dom- 
itius  who  ordered  the  slave  to  be  brought  to  him  as  he  de- 
sired to  see  so  brave  a  man.  The  poor  creature  appeared 
before  this  fellow,  humbly  expecting  a  trifle  of  praise  so  sel- 
dom the  lot  of  the  Syracusian  slave.  To  his  horror,  how- 
ever, this  monster's  first  question  was,  what  kind  of  weapon 
or  means  were  employed  by  him  in  performing  the  deed. 
The  answer  was  a  javelin.  "Are  you  not  aware  that  the  jave- 
lin is  a  weapon  for  gentlemen  ;  and  that  for  so  mean  a  crea- 
ture as  a  slave  to  use  the  weapons  of  men,  is  death  ?  "  Turn- 
ing to  his  soldiers  he  said,  "  take  this  slave  away  and  crucify 
him."  The  trembling  wretch  was  actually  crucified  upon 
the  spot.  The  heart  sickens  at  the  contemplation  of  our 
descent  from  such  a  type  of  monsters ! 

Bucher  notes13  that  single  contractors  often  worked  300 
to  600  slaves  in  the  silver  mines  of  Laurium  and  that  con- 
victs who  were  government  property  were  sometimes  sold 
to  the  contractors  who  exploited  their  labor  in  their  own 
name."  Sometimes  intelligent  men  in  those  days  were  half 
slaves  and  half  free,  being  enfeoffed  by  livery  of  seizin,  no 
doubt,  if  unambitious  of  freedom,  enjoying  thereby  some 
advantages  over  those  entirely  out  in  the  competitive  world. 
Sm;h  men  were  paid  a  per  diem,  varying  from  3  to  7  oboli, 
or  from  10  to  19  cents  for  their  labor.16 

Callias  the  friend  of  Cimon,  B.  C.  460,  became  wealthy, 
managing  mines.  All  or  nearly  all  the  mines  were,  with 
the  ancients,  the  property  of  the  state.  The  state  contracted 
the  working  of  the  mines  to  enterprising  business  men  who 
often  hired  slaves  to  do  the  work.  These  contractors  were 
often  men  of  noble  blood.  The  sense  of  the  social  structure 
being  against  conducting  or  managing  one's  own  business. 

is  Gibbon.  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  Vol.  I.  p.  48.  N.  Y.,  1850: 
Boekh,  Silberbergrwerke,  S.  122-3.  adds  tetimony  to  this  hardheartedness  of 
the  ancients,  referring  to  Plato  who,  for  his  perfect  state,  wanted  only  Greeks 
Cie-npt  from  slavery. 

«  Aufstdnde  etc.,  .-.  96. 

'tBockh,  Abhandlung  der  Hittorisch-Philologischen  Classe  der  Preussischen 
Akademie  der  Wiessenchaften,  1814-16. 

is  Id.  Public  Ewn.  of  Athenians,  p.  164. 


STATISTICS    OF  ANCIENT    WAGES.  137 

Only  the  slaves  and  other  workmen,  those  who  actually  per- 
formed the  work,  were  doomed  to  suffer  the  odium  of  labor. 
Any  business  man  who  could  get  a  bond,  could  take  from 
the  state  a  portion  or  the  whole  of  a  mine;  and  sometimes 
even  the  slaves  themselves  were  to  be  had  of  the  state.  In 
this  case,  the  complete  outfit  was  contracted  for  by  the  in- 
dividual, who  had  no  further  care  than  to  manipulate  pro- 
ducts and  gains.  Callias  and  Cimon  had  either  contracts 
for  or  ownership  in  the  mines  of  silver  at  Lauriura,  located 
to  the  southeastward  of  Athens  about  30  miles.18  Their 
names  appear  also,  but  vaguely  in  connection  with  the 
Pangaeus  mines  in  Thrace.  It  is  known  that  Thucidydes 
the  celebrated  historian  owned  mining  property  in  Mace- 
donia. He  was  a  rich  slave  owner  and  optimate.  One 
Sosias  a  Thracian  contractor  hired  from  Nicias  a  thousand 
slaves,  at  an  obolus  per  day  each.11  Hyponicus  rented  or 
hired  as  many  as  600  slaves  to  these  contractors  and  re- 
ceived, as  Xenophon  tells  us,  a  mina  daily  for  their  labor. 
Philemonides  for  300  slaves  got  half  a  mina.19 

Public  servants  were  not  always  free.  "Wages  in  the  time 
of  Pericles  stood  about  as  follows:19  for  a  common  laborer 
who  carried  dirt,  3  oboli,M  or  10^  cents  per  day.  A  gar- 
dener got  14  cents;  a  sawyer  of  wood,  one  drachm,  or  19 
centsj  a  carpenter  received  sometimes  as  high  as  17^-  cents 
while  millers  in  the  grain  mills  received  15  to  18  cents. 
Scribes  or  copyists  no  more.  The  architect  of  the  temple 
of  Minerva  got  no  more  than  the  stone  sawyer  and  others 
only  as  much  as  the  common  laborer.  His  name  was  Polias. 
Boeckh  says  he  received  one  drachm  or  exactly  17^  cents. 
The  hypogrammateus  or  secretary  to  the  superintendent  of 
public  buildings  got  only  5  oboli  or  about  15  cents. 

The  fares  for  traveling  conveyances  were  also  very  low. 
In  fact,  the  clerks  and  public  officials  of  every  kind  were 
government  subjects  who  received  low  salaries  and  worked 
long  hours.  Their  life  was  a  constant  drudgery.  The  su- 
perintendents themselves  were  officers  of  family  or  blood. 
They  were  citizens ;  but  the  dignity  of  their  position  re- 
strained them  from  receiving  any  recompense. 

i«  Plutarch,  Cimon.     Cornelius  Nepos.  Cimon;  "non  tarn  generogus  qiiam 
pecuniosus,  qui  magnas  pecunias  ex  met  all  is  recerat." 

"  Xenophon,  De  Vectgal.  §.  4,  14;    Plutarch,  Nivias,  4. 

"  Xenophon,  Id.  1,  c.  §  15.  i9B6ckh,  Pub.  Ecm.  Athen.  p.  184. 

so  An  obolus  was  3>£  eta,  a  drachma  19. 


138  STRIKE  AT  THE  SILVER  MINES. 

Thus  in  Greece,  Rome  and  everywhere  throughout  an- 
tiquity, such  were  the  oppressive  conditions  that  the  intelli- 
gent among  the  working  classes,  goaded  by  their  sufferings, 
were  on  the  alert,  sometimes  for  revenge,  sometimes  tor 
objects  of  amelioration,  but  oftener  from  sheer,  reckless 
despair,  and  ready  to  strike  out  in  bloody  rebellion  against 
their  master. 

With  this  statement  on  general  causes  of  strikes  we  pro- 
ceed with  the  story  of  the  greatest  of  all,  belonging  purely 
to  this  category  of  human  resistance,  to  be  found  either  in 
ancient  or  modern  times.21  It  may  be  plausibly  conjectured 
that  this  great  strike  in  turning  the  tables  against  the  Athe- 
nians and  thus  deciding  the  celebrated  Peloponnesian  war 
against  them  and  the  little  democracy  that  had  grown  up 
in  the  Athenian  civilization  and  refinement,  went  far  toward 
suppressing  the  true  progress  of  the  human  race.22 

The  silver  mines  of  Lauriumr  30  miles  south  from  the 
city  of  Athens,  were  among  the  resources  of  Athenian  wealth. 
They  belonged  to  the  government.  The  methods  of  ob- 
taining the  precious  metal  was  by  arduous  labor,  without 
much  of  the  modern  machinery.  Diodorus  describing  the 
Egyptian  mines  between  Captos  and  Cosseir,  pictures  the 
sufferings  of  the  poor  convicts  and  barbarians  working 
there ;  M  and  Biioher  says  that  was  also  the  case  with  those 
working  the  Laurian  mines.**  According  to  this,  men  and 
women  in  great  numbers  who  had  committed  some  crime2* 
against  the  state  or  otherwise,  were  dragged  into  the  subter- 
ranean cavern,  stripped  entirely  of  their  clothing,  their 
bodies  painted,  their  legs  loaded  with  chains  and  in  this 
frightful  condition,  set  at  work  drilling  the  rock,  breaking 
it  in  pieces  and  carrying  it  to  the  mouth  of  the  shaft.  Out- 
side the  mine  were  smith eries,  machine  shops  for  making 
stamping  mills,  water  tanks  and  courses  for  washing  the 
metal,  wagon  shops  for  making  and  repairing  vehicles  of 
conveyance  and  other  conveniences  necessary  for  so  great 
an  industry,  employing  great  numbers  of  slaves  and  freed- 
men  for  carrying  on  the  works. 

«  The  greater  uprisings  are  known,  not  as  strikes  but  as  servile  wars ;  al- 
though we  sometime*  confound  them  with  strike-, 

22  Drumann,  Arbeiter  und  Communisten  in  Griechenland  und  Rom,  S.  64, 

23Diodorus  Bibliotheca  Historica,  V.  38. 

2«Biicher,  Aufsiunde  der  unfieien  Arb.  S.  96. 

** Compare  Plutarch.  .Virfo-s  and  Cragxus  Comp.  Init.  Plutarch  here  avers 
that  the  workmen  un  .d-  Xnia-.  were  often  ma  efactors  anil  convirt,-. 


BOTH  SEXES  WORKED  NA KED  IN  THE  MINES.      139 

These  mines  of  Laurium  were  in  operation  when  the  Pe- 
loponnesian  war  broke  out,  B.  C.  432,  between  the  Spartans 
and  Athenians,  which  lasted  27  years,  Thucidydes  speaks 
as  though  the  offer  held  out  to  the  workmen  employed  as 
slaves  by  the  Athenians,  of  18  cents  per  day  uniformly,  was 
a  very  tempting  one.26  They  were  poor  dependents,  some 
slaves,  some  freedmen,  some  convicts,  subjected  to  abuse,, 
thrown  pel-mel  together,  driven  to  hard  work,  poorly  fed, 
those  within  the  mines,  naked  and  suffering,  and  utterly 
destitute  of  that  feeling  known  to  us  as  patriotism,  although 
many  of  them  were  Athenians."  During  this  obstinate 
struggle  the  Lacedaemonian  forces,  B.  C.  413,  approached 
as  near  to  Athens  as  Decelea,  a  garrisoned  frontier  town 
in  Bo3tia  held  by  them,  where  they  established  themselves 
over  against  the  Athenian  lines.  The  distance  between 
Decelea  on  the  borders  of  Boetia  and  Athens  is  only  about 
20  miles.  The  Athenian  ergasteria  or  workshops  were 
manned  in  part  by  slaves.28  So,  whether  in  the  shops  and 
arsenals  at  Athens,  or  in  the  silver  mines  of  Laurium,  both 
of  which,  during  war  time,  were  indispensable  for  supply- 
ing money  and  arms,  the  sinews  of  production  were  not 
quickened  by  that  peculiarly  inspiriting  urgent  known  to  us 
as  patriotism.  Labor  hated  alike  home,  fatherland  and  em- 
ployer. When  war  broke  out  the  laborer,  instead  of  turn- 
ing his  power  and  genius  to  swift  production  of  engines  for 
hurling  missiles  of  destruction  among  the  invaders  of  his 
country,  sought  in  the  vortex  of  fierce  disturbance,  some 
fissure  of  retreat  from  the  monstrous  cruelties  of  bondage. 

Thus  in  this  pivotal  contest  between  the  Spartans  and 
Athenians,  compared  with  the  Spartans'  treatment  of  the 
Helots  or  Lacedemonian  slaves,  the  Athenians  with  all  the 
horrors  that  have  been  pictured,  were  mild,  we  find  the 
grievance  intensified  beyond  endurance.  Compared  with 
Spartan  suavity,  philosophy  and  moral  advancement,  the 
Athenians  were  as  civilization  to  barbarism;  for  Sparta  had 
never  questioned  the  claims  of  Pagan  aristocracy  and  Ly- 
curgus  had  built  upon  it  in  all  its  austere  presumptiveness  a 
ring  or  community  of  about  one-third  the  population  and 
damned  the  remaining  two-thirds  to  a  stage  of  slavery 

M  Thucydides.  De  Bella  Peloponnesiaco,  VII.  27,  already  quoted,    p.  107. 
stBucher.  Aufstande  d.  unfreien  Arb.  S.  21. 

w  Drumann;  Arb.  u.  Communisten  in  Griechenland  u.  Horn,  S.  64;    "Auch 
in  den  F,;briken,  fpyacrrepia,  sah  man  nur  Sclaven," 


140  STRIKE  AT  THE  SILVER  MINES. 

very  little  better  than  that  of  naked  convicts  described  by 
Diodorus  in  the  gold  mines  of  Egypt.29  Yet  notwithstand- 
ing the  brutal  example  the  poor  slaves  had  just  witnessed, 
of  Spartan  treachery,  in  assassinating  2,000  brave  helots 
a  few  years  before,30  some  knowledge  of  which  they  must 
certainly  have  possessed 31  we  find  the  poor  Athenian  work- 
men readily  accepting  an  offer  by  the  Spartans  and  joining 
them  in  great  numbers  against  their  own  fatherland. 

Undoubtedly  this  was  a  very  dangerous  exploit  of  the 
strikers  and  could  not  have  succeeded  without  some  organ- 
ization. But  we  are  left  in  the  dark  regarding  most  of  the 
details.  No  doubt  the  near  approach  of  the  Lacedaemonian 
forces  and  the  demoralization  of  the  Athenians  as  well  as 
their  ingratitude,  together  with  the  arrogance  of  Cimon 
and  the  revenges  of  Alcibiades,  might  have  had  much  to 
do  with  it. 

This  great  strike  must  have  been  plotted  by  the  men 
themselves.  We  are,  through  the  two  or  three  brief  refer- 
ences to  it,  given  us  by  the  historians,32  left  to  infer  that  it 
must  have  been  well  concerted,  violent  and  swift.  The  in- 
ference is  unequivocal  that  in  413,  B.  C.  20,000  miners,  me- 
chanics, teamsters  and  laborers  suddenly  struck  work;  and 
at  a  moment  of  Athens'  greatest  peril,  fought  themselves 
loose  from  their  masters  and  their  chains.  These  20,000 
workmen  made  a  desperate  bolt  for  the  Spartan  garrison 
newly  established  at  Decelea  on  the  borders  of  Boetia.  The 
strike  must  have  been  the  more  desperate  on  account  of 
the  offers  held  out  to  them  by  the  enemy.  One  of  the  offers 
was  that  they  should  be  provided  with  work  which  they 
should  perform  on  their  own  reckoning;  but  that  they 
should  pay  only  a  part  of  it  to  their  masters  or  employers. 
At  this  lay,  by  industry  and  patience  they  could  not  only 
live  better  but  could  lay  by  a  certain  sum  with  which  to 


29  Diodorus,  Bib.  Hist.  III.  11,     V    3S 

so  Thucydides,  IV.  80,  massacre  of  the  Helots,  B.  0.  424,  ut  supr,  p.  106,  sq 

31  Witness  the  intimate  undercurrent  01  u;  ephony  during  the  great   up- 
risings of  Eunus,  Aristonicus,  Athenioii  and  Spartacus;    and  the  same  was 
rcpetead  during  the  ami-slavery  rebellion  in  the  United  States,  with  same 
mysteriously  accurate  information. 

32  Thucydidej"  De  Bello  Pel.  VI.  91.  VIII.  4,   VII.  27;     Xenophon,  D« 
Vectigal.  4,  25;     Drumann,  Ark.  u.  Comm.   S.  64;     Bticher,  Au/st&nde.  vn- 
freien  Aibeiter,  S.  21 :    -'Im  Jahre  vor  Chr.  413   schlugen  sich  20,000  Athen- 
ische  Fabrikarbeiter  zu  den  Lakedaimoniern,  ein  schwerer  Schlag  fur  den 
Laurischen  Bergbau."    Bbckh,  LauriscJte  Silberbergwerke,  S.  90-1,  also  men- 
tions it. 


THE  STRIKE  A  RECOGNIZED  SUCCESS.  141 

bay  themselves  free.  Unaccustomed  to  plenty  and  sud- 
denly thus  provided  with  enough  to  eat  and  drink,  they 
naturally  gave  themselves  up  to  indulgence  to  some  extent 
for  Dr.  Diumann  tells  us  that  many  of  the  slaves  lived  bet- 
ter than  the  freedmen  themselves,  though  we  have  no  ac- 
count of  their  dissipating.33  The  statement  of  Dr.  Biicher, 
that  this  strike  of  the  workmen  of  Athens  was  a  heavy  blow 
to  the  mining  operations  of  the  Laurian  silver  diggings,  con- 
firms the  importance  of  this  immense  uprising  in  Attica. 
The  sudden  loss  of  20,000  workmen,  inured  to  the  hard- 
ships of  mining  life,  and  drilled  to  the  mechanical  nice- 
ties of  the  assays  for  the  money  supply,  of  the  wagon 
works,  and  of  the  armories  at  Athens  where  most  of  the 
sabera,  slings,  daggers,  javelins,  campaign  wagons  and 
other  impedimenta  of  war  were  constructed,  ia  known 
to  have  been  a  serious  set-back  to  the  progress  of  the  Pe- 
loponnesian  conflict.  But  while  it  disheartened  the  Athen- 
ians it  proportionately  encouraged  and  delighted  the  Lace- 
daemonians ;  and  as  the  latter  were  not  of  the  party  of  pro- 
gress but  engaged  in  invidious  activity  against  the  Athen- 
ians, at  that  time  the  most  democratic  and  advanced  peo- 
ple in  the  world,  it  acted  directly  against  the  evolution  of 
mankind.  No  one  pretends  to  deny  that  the  Spartans,, 
boasting  of  the  hegemony  of  their  youth  and  their  conse- 
quent warlike  prowess,  were  mad  with  jealousy  against  the 
wondrous  work  of  Athenian  philosophy,  letters,  fine  art  and 
polish ; — the  very  adornments,  theoretical  and  mechanical, 

34  Drumann.  Arbeiter  und  Communiften  in  Griechenland  und  Rom,  S.  64.  "  Der 
grosste  Theil  der  20.000,  welche  im  peloponnesischen  Kriege  in  Attica  zn  der 
spartanischen  }5>-«atznn£j  in  Pocelia  entliei'eu,  kam  aus  Fabriken.  Mitunter 
wurde'thnen  gestattet,  fur  elgene  Eechnung  zu  arbeiten,  und  ein  Gewisses  theil  an 
ihre  Herren  aozugeben  ;  so  konuten  fleissige  and  sparsame  eine  Summe  erttbrigen 
nnd  sich  loskaufen ;  manche  machten  mehr  Aufwand  als  die  Freien."  Biicher 
gays,  S.  21:  "  Wo  viele  Sklaven  derselben  Nationalitat  in  einer  Stadt  zttsammen 
lebten,  sagt  Platon,  (legg.  VI.  p.  777),  geschahe  grosses  Dnheil,  wasdoch  nur  auf 
wirliche  Aufstande  mit  all  ihren  Graueln  zu  deuten  ist."  So  also  at  Home 
the  feeling  waa  against  the  poorest  class  and  aggravated  by  a  fear  of  their  mnti- 
nies.  Cato  the  elder  was  a  hard-hearted  slave-driver  as  Livy,  (XXXIX.  40), 
coolly  hints,  without  seeming  to  imagine  that  brutal  treatment  of  a  menial 
was  inhumanity.  Macrobius,  (Saturnaliorum  Libri,  I,  xi.  2,  25-30,)  says  that  in 
Rome  so  great  was  the  cruelty  of  citizens  to  the  laboring  class  that  God  himst- 11 
protested:  "Audi  igittir  quanta  indignatio  de  serui  supplicio  caelum  pene- 
trauerit.  anno  enim  post  Bomatn  conditam  quadringentesimo  septuagesimo 
quarto  Autranius  quiilam  Maximue  sernum  suum  ueberatum  patibuloque  con- 
strictnm  ante  spetaculi  commissionem  per  circum  egit:  ob  quam  causam  indJg- 
natus  luppiter  Annio  cuidam  per  quietem  imperauit  ut  senatui  nuntiaret  non 
Bibi  placuisse  plenum  crudelitatis  admissum."  Thus  cruelty  with  other  griev- 
ances caused  them  to  revolt.  Of  course,  those  who  were  already  free  were  still 
more  fortunate.  It  is  curious  that  the  law  waa  such  that  the  slaves  remained 
slaves  even  after  winning  the  strike. 


142  STRIKE  AT   THE  SILVER   MINES. 

which  have  in  course  of  subsequent  ages  succeeded  in  rid- 
ding the  world  of  slavery.  Yet  we  find  in  this  great  strike 
20,000  workingmen  revolting  and  turning  their  muscle 
against  their  own  comparatively  progressive  institutions, 
thus  doing  all  in  their  power  to  aid  the  Spartans  in  subdu- 
ing this  growing  Athenian  intelligence.  Of  course  we  can- 
not blame  them  for  resistance ;  for  it  raised  them,  although 
it  doomed  then;  cause.  The  brilliant  Athenians  were,  after 
a  struggle  of  27  years,  defeated  and  the  Spartans  succeeded 
in  re-establishing  the  old,  jealous,  conservative  paganism — 
that  deadliest  enemy  of  freedom,  the  nursery  of  slavery,  the 
home  of  priestcraft  and  of  aristocracy,  ever  inculcating 
belief  in  divine  right  of  few  against  many. 

Not  far  from  Decilea  on  the  Athenian  seacoast,  about  five 
miles  to  the  southeastward  of  the  Laurian  silver  mines,  was 
the  little  mining  city  of  Sunion.  There  was  an  old  castle 
at  this  place,  which,  like  that  in  the  forest  of  Sicily,34  was 
under  the  aegis  of  a  powerful  divinity  who  recognized  the 
workingman  and  protected  him,  whatever  his  deeds  or  his 
guilt,  so  long  as  he  could  hold  himself  within  its  walls. 

It  was  about  the  close  of  the  first  Labor  war  of  Eunus  of 
Sicily  that  another  enormous  and  horribly  bloody  strike  oc- 
curred in  the  mines  of  Laurium.88  The  men  undertook  and 
carried  out  the  same  plan  as  that  of  Decelia,  and  struck  work 
to  the  number  of  more  than  a  thousand.88  It  ruust  have 
been  a  memorable  and  shockingly  sanguinary  event.  Sun- 
ion  was  the  stronghold  of  the  silver  mines.37  By  the  ap- 
pearance of  things  as  presented  to  us  in  the  meagre  details 
given,  no  improvement  for  the  comfort  of  the  miners  had 
ever  been  introduced  since  the  great  strike  of  Decelea.  The 
poor  creatures  were  still  suffering  under  the  lash,  delving 
860  out  of  the  365  days  in  the  year,  naked,  men  and  women  in 
discriminately  tugging  under  the  clubs  of  heartless  foremen 
and  directors,  the  same  as  ages  before,88  That  these  poor 

•*  See  Second  Sicilian  Labor  War,  chap.  xi.  where  it  IB  related  that  the  strikers 
were  actually  shielded  by  the  god  of  the  castle,  and  no  one  dared  to  disturb  them 
nntii  they  had  organized  that  mighty  rebellion. 

»*  A  full  account  of  this  strike-war  occurs  in  chap.  x.  pp.  201-241  q.  v. 

w  Augustin  de  civ.  d.  in.  26,  tells  us  also  of  a  great  uprising  of  the  miners 
In  Macedonia. 

w  B6ckh,  Laurische  Silberlergwerk,  8,  90. 

38  Athenaeus,  Deipnosvphistce,  VI.  p.  271:  quoting  E.  Poseidonius,  the  contin- 
nator  of  the  Histories  of  Polybius  says:  "  Kai  ai  TroAAai  fie  O.VTO.I  'A.TTLKO.I  /avpta^es 
Twv  oiKeriav  &eS(/j.fi'ai  flpydfovro  TO.  /xrraAAa.  Hoaei&tavio^  yovv  o'  $iA6<7o<£o£  icai 
aTroorai'Tas  <f>jj(rlv  avrovt  /tara^oi'eucrai  fjLtv  rods  ejri  riav  jneTaAAcov  <£vAa<cas,  icaraAa- 


BLOODY  MUTINY  AT  S UNI ON.  143 

people,  many  of  whom  were  freedmen  had  their  labor  or- 
ganizations is  proved  beyond  a  shadow  of  doubt.  Bockb, 
comments  upon  the  passage  of  Demosthenes  against  Pan- 
tsetus,39  showing  a  quarrel  of  the  contractors  hi  the  mines 
with  the  trade  unions.  These  quarrels  were  frequent  occur- 
rences in  th  ose  days.  It  might  have  been  some  similar  trouble 
that  caused  the  uprisings  we  are  describing,  although  it  oc- 
curred in  later  times. 

More  than  a  thousand  of  the  miners  one  day  simultane- 
ously struck  work  and  proceeded  in  a  body  to  the  protect- 
ing castle  of  Sunion  where  they  claimed  and  secured  pro- 
tection from  the  divine  guardian  that  watched  over  this  holy 
institution.40 

Should  any  one  complain  of  us  for  dragging  religion  into 
our  history  of  the  ancient  lowly,  their  folly  will  here  be 
seen.  It  is  another  of  the  numerous  instances  showing  that 
labor,  politics  and  religion  were  all  institutions  of  govern- 

ftccrdai  Si  rriv  ciri  Zovvt'w  aKpbno\iv  KO.\  «iri  iroAvp  \p6vov  jroptbjcrai  rr\v  'Arruc>)v. 
OUTO?,  SJjv  6  xatpoc,  ore  icai  ei  SiKt/uar;  Sevrcpa.  TUIV  SouAtop  airbcrTourcf  eyevero.  Sea 
also  Bockh,  S.  123. 

3°  See  Demosth,  Agt.  Pant.  966-7.    The  eranoi  mentioned  were  the  veritable 
trade  unions,  corresponding  with  the  Roman  collegia,  the  French  jurandes  and  the 
English  trade  unions.    The  thiaaoi,  as  we  persistently  explain,  were  that  branch, 
of  the  eranoi  which  had  in  charge  the  entertainments  and  solemnities.    We  have 
already  shown  that  slaves  often  belonged  to  the  onions.    Foucart,  (Associations  Be- 
lifficusues.Chtz  La  Grecs.  p.  121  and  219,  inscription  No.  38),  mentions  an  important 
inscription  showing  that  one  Xanthos  a  Lycian  slave  belonging  to  a  Roman 
named  Cains  Orbius,  founded  a  temple  at  the  mines  and  consecrated  it  to  the 
moon  god.    This  moon  god  in  return  for  the  favor  protected  the  slaves.    The 
slab  bears  eviuence  from  which  we  quote  the  first  six  lines  as  follows; 
Hai-Oo?  Avxtof  Tat'ov  'Optfiov  KaBeiSpvtra.  TO  iep  oinov  MTJ^O? 
Tvpavvov,  aipericravTOs  rov  6tov,  ejr'  aya.6r)  rv\r^  KalfXTjOcya 
ix.6i9a.prov  irpoerayeiv,  Ka9api£e0Tw  Se  airb  <7KOp&av  «caiYOipe«ii» 
Kai  yvfatKOs,  Aoucra^ei'ov?  Si  KaraxeciiaAa  avOr)fj.fpbv  eio-iropeu- 
eo-6ai,  xai  etc  rlav  yvvaiKtitav  6ta  iirra.  T\fitp<av  Aov<Ta/xe'ia)VicaTa- 
(ceuaAa  ti<nropcve<r6<ii  avdrifiepbv,  Kai  airb  vtKpov  Sia.  ^cpuvSeica. 
The  remarks  of  Foucart  in  the  text,  p.  121  are:    "  Celui  qni,  vers  le  deurleme 
siecle  apres  notre  ere,  introduisit  dans  1'Attiqnele  culte  de  Men,  etait  un  esclave 
lycien,  employe  par  un  proprietaire  remain  aux  travaux  des  mines.    C'etait  le 
dien  lui-meme  qui,  dans  une  apparition  ou  dans  un  songe,  1'avait  invite  &  ele- 
ver  le  temple.    Aussi  le  fondateur  a-m  pris  soin  de  repeter,  dans  les  deux  in- 
scriptions, qu'il  executait  le  desir  de  Men :  c'etait  mettre  ainsi  sons  sa  protection 
le  reglement  qu'il  edictait:  Moi,  Xanthos,  Lycien,  appartenant  a  Caius  Orbius, 
i'ai  consacre  le  temple  de  Men  Tyranno.5,  pour  me  conformer  a  la  volont*  dtt 
dieu."    We  would  like  to  ask  how  a  poor  slave  working  in  the  mines  could  found, 
«!•  -ct  and  consecrate  a  great  temple  so  solid  that  its  ruins  and  inscriptions  re- 
main as  testimony  to  this  day  ?    Foucart  in  his  desire  to  prove  that  aU  those  in- 
scriptions were  purely  religious  and  nothing  more,  forgets  that  a  slave  so  lowly 
could  do  no  such  thing.    He  was  simply  managing  officer  of  a  great  trade  union 
so  Democratic  that  social  distinctions  were  unknown  to  it.    This  eranos  erected 
the  temple. 

^  Schambach,  Der  Italische' Selavenattfland,  S.  5:  "Um  620  a.  u.-134v.  Chr. 
^mporten  sich  die  in  den  Laurischen  Silberberken  arbeitenden  Sklaven,  todteten 
ikre  Wachter,  nahmen  das  Kustell  von  Sunion  eln  und  verwiisteten  Attika  lange 
Zeit. 


144  STRIKE   AT  THE  SILVER   MINES. 

mont.  Let  the  reader  imagine  a  thousand  workingmen 
safely  protected  from  the  most  deadly  enemies,  by  a  god ! 
But  n  ot  only  for  a  day  or  two  were  they  thus  screened  from 
the  wrath  of  armed  soldiers  who  had  orders  to  spear  every 
one  of  the  strikers  the  instant  he  was  seen  outside  the 
sacred  pale,  but  for  months  this  continued  and  there  were 
battles  fought  and  frequent  and  successful  sallies  made  by 
the  workingmen  all  under  the  protecting  arm  of  the  god. 

'The  strikers  killed  their  overseers,  rushed  into  the  town, 
took  possession,  got  the  temple  to  sleep  in,  organized  them- 
selves for  combat,  took  the  arms  from  the  armories,  and 
for  a  long  time  laid  waste  the  country  on  every  side,  re- 
maining masters  of  the  stronghold  within.  The  mayor  .of 
the  city,  one  Heraklitos,41  after  their  rage  was  probably  spent, 
succeeded  in  defeating  them  when  in  all  probability  the 
usual  brutalities  of  wholesale  crucifixion  were  enacted  and 
nearly  every  one  put  to  death.  This  is  the  more  certain 
because  at  this  time,  B.  C.  133,  the  Romans  were  not  only 
masters  of  all  Greece,  but  their  contractors  were  operating 
the  silver  mines  at  Lauriuin,  for  which  kind  of  employment 
they  had  a  peculiar  fondness. 

Another  strike  and  bloody  stampede  of  a  similar  kind 
took  place  at  the  gold  mines  of  Panga?tus  in  Macedonia, 
which  was  of  sufficient  magnitude  to  get  into  the  history 
of  Augustin,  and  Schambach  mentions  it  as  another  import- 
ant occurrence.42 

«  Orosius.  V.  9:  "  In  metailis  qnoqne  Atheniensium  idem  tumultus  servili* 
ab  Heraclito  prrotore  discusaus  est.1' 

<2  Schambach,  Der  Italische  Sklavenaufstand,  S.  5:  "Auch  die  griechsche  Welt 
wvirde  in  ahnlicher  weise,  wenn  auch  in  geringerer  Ausdehnung,  heimgesucht. 
Nach  Augustin  <le  civ.  m,  26  verwiisteten  kurz  vor  dem  Ausbruche  des  ersten 
skilisehen  Sklavenkrieges  emporte  Sklavenbanden  Macedonian  and  die  anstoss- 
eiiden  Gebiete. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GRIEVANCES. 

LABOR  TROUBLES  AMONG  THE  ROMANS. 
MORE  BLOODY   PLANS  OF  SALVATION  TRIED. 

THK  IRASCIBLE  PLAN  in  Italy — Epidemic  Uprisings — Attempt  to 
Fire  the  City  of  Rome  and  have  Things  common — Conspir- 
acy of  Slaves  at  the  Metropolis — Two  Traitors — Betrayal — 
Deaths  on  the  Roman  Gibbet — Another  Great  Uprising  at  Se- 
tia — Expected  Capture  of  the  World — Land  of  Wine  and 
Delight — Again  the  Traitor,  the  Betrayal  and  Gibbet — The 
Irascible  Plan  a  Failure — Strike  of  the  Agricultural  Laborers 
in  Etruria — Slave  Labor — Character  of  the  Etruscans — Expe- 
dition of  Glabro — Fighting — Slaves  Worsted — Punishment 
on  the  dreadful  Cross,  the  ancient  Block  for  the  Low-born — 
Enormous  Strike  in  the  Land  of  Labor  Organizations — One 
Glimpse  at  the  Cause  and  Origin  of  Italian  Brigandage — La- 
borers, Mechanics  and  Agriculturers  Driven  to  Despair — 
The  great  Uprising  in  Apulia — Fierce  Fighting  to  the  Dag- 
ger's Hilt — The  Overthrow,  the  Dungeon  and  the  Cross. — 
Proof  Dug  from  Fragments  of  Lost  History. 

STRIKES  and  labor  mutinies  are  known  to  have  occurred  at 
Rome.  There  was  one  of  a  desperate  nature  in  the  year 
417,  B.  C.,  while  Lanatus,  P.  Lucretius  and  Spurius  Rutilus 
were  tribunes  under  the  consuls  Vibulanus  and  Capitolinus.1 
This  was  during  the  Peloponneaian  war  and  the  fact  that  it 
occurred,  about  the  same  time  with  the  great  strike  of  the 
20,000 3  miners  and  artisans  at  Athens,  shows  that  the  asser- 
tion made  by  the  investigation  of  the  TInited  States  Bureau 

iLivy,  Annalfg,  lib.  IV.  45. 

2  Authors  differ  a  little  as  to  dates.     The  different  is  agreed  to  within 
three  years :  i.  e.  B.  C.  413  lor  the  Athenian  and  417  tor  the  Roman  strike. 


146  EARLY  MUTINEERS    OF  ITALY. 

of  Labor,  that  panics  and  depressions  are  simultaneous  and 
somewhat  epidemic  in  character,  is  true.3  This  remarka- 
ble phenomenon  will  repeatedly  exhibit  itself  as  we  proceed. 
Livy  states  that  in  the  same  year  the  city  of  Cumae  in  Cam- 
pania, long  inhabited  by  the  Greeks,  but  located  only  a 
short  distance  to  the  southward  of  Rome,  had  been  taken.4 
Undoubtedly  some  of  the  conspirators  whose  story  we  are 
about  to  recount,  were  Greeks.  Syracuse,  a  Greek-speaking 
city,  being  brought  into  contact  at  the  same  time  by  the 
novel  adventures  of  Nicias  and  Cimon,  must  have  afforded 
the  slaves  an  opportunity  of  hearing  the  news  of  the  great 
strike  pending  at  Decelea.  On  the  whole,  judging  from 
the  established  fact  that  strikes  and  uprisings  among  work- 
ingmen  are  nearly  always  contagious,  it  may  safely  be  set 
down  as  probable  that  these  historical  events  were  simul- 
taneous. At  any  rate,  the  warning  words  of  Macrobius, 
that  "the  more  slaves  the  more  enemies"6  would  have  been 
applicable  to  both  Greeks  and  Romans;  for  though  deliv- 
ered subsequently,  they  were  always  true. 

Enthused  by  some  subtile  agency,  whether  of  emissaries 
from  secret  societies,  or  straggling  travelers  or  pirates  bring- 
ing exaggerated  accounts  from  Greece,  or  whether  goaded 
to  the  act  by  their  own  misery  neither  of  which  wiH  ever  be 
explained,  we  know  that  in  the  night,  in  the  year  417,  ac- 
cording to  our  own  reckoning,  or  419  according  to  Biicher,' 
the  slaves  in  a  conjuration  they  had  previously  concocted, 
arose  and  attempted  to  fire  the  city  of  Rome.  Their  hatred 
was  not  only  against  their  bonds  per  se,  but  also  extremely 
intense  against  the  aristocracy  who,  ever  since  the  time  of 
their  beloved  king  Servius  Tullius,  B.  C.  678-534,  had  op- 
pressed them  through  both  fear  and  jealousy.  Tullius  was 
the  6th  Roman  king;  and  of  all  others  since  the  great 
Numa  the  most  friendly  to  the  poor  and  lowly.  His  sym- 
pathy was  the  stronger  for  his  having  once  been  a  slave 
himself.  He  restored  the  arrangement  of  Numa  that  had 
regulated  their  trades  and  economic  relations.  He  upheld 
the  old  trade  organization.  As  to  the  slaves,  it  is  probable 

s  Consult  Pint  Annual  Report  of  Oie  United  Statct  Bureau  of  Labor,  1889, 
pp.  15  and  290  refering  to  panics  and  depre  sions. 

*  Liv.  lib.  IV.  cap  44,  iin.  Cumae  w  is  ulso  the  birthplace  of  Blossius  the 
rich  labor  agitator,  q.  v.  chapter  on  Aristonicue. 

s  Macrobius,  Salurnaliorum  Libri,  1.  11. 

«  Biicher,  Aufstdnde  der  unfreien  Ar  better,  S.  24. 


THE    GOOD   OLD   TIME.  147 

that  he  also  greatly  assisted  them.  All  who  could  count 
upon  enough  freedom,  he  organized.  He  added  to  the 
first  class  of  Numa's  system  two  centuries.7  This  was  rec- 
ognizing in  them  some  power  of  defence  and  an  element  of 
dignity.  When  this  good  man  died,  the  nobility,  mad  with 
jealousy,  overturned  some  of  the  laws  and  regulations  he 
had  established.  Even  during  his  life,  such  was  their  hatred 
that  they  ploLt3d  an  indiscriminate  slaughter  in  which 
many  poor  work'.:ig  people  fell  victims.  Before  he  died, 
he  caused  to  be  e  -graved  or  otherwise  chronicled,  a  consti- 
tution which  greatly  favored  the  slave  population  and  the 
freedmen ;  but  it  was  swept  out  of  existence  by  those  who 
succeeded  him. 

To  clearly  exhibit  the  state  of  human  credulity  in  ancient 
times  as  well  as  to  trace  the  origin  of  the  proletarian  the- 
ory of  Saviors  and  the  prevalent  beliefs  in  immaculate  con- 
ceptions, it  may  here  be  stated  that  Servius  Tullius  was 
imagined  a  descendant  of  a  slave  on  his  mother's  side  and 
of  a  god  on  his  father's.  This  may  really  and  consistently 
with  the  Pagan  faith  have  been  perfectly  true;  because  ac- 
cording to  that  religion  any  paterfamilias,  or  head  of  a 
noble  gens  family  was  a  god  and  there  was  a  law  giving 
him  privilege  to  have  children  by  his  female  slaves.8  All 
strikes  and  uprisings  had  been  easily  subdued  under  Ser- 
vius Tullius.  The  massacre  of  the  slaves  alluded  to  was 
not  in  the  least,  so  far  as  we  have  information,  instigated 
by  him,  but  by  the  jealous  nobility  who  could  not  bear  to 
see  a  favor  shown  the  poor  whom  they  despised.  After 
King  Tarquin  acceded  to  the  throne  and  the  good  work  of 
Tullius  was  destroyed,  they  seem  to  have  revived  their  old 
uneasiness;  and  no  doubt  many  uprisings  actually  took 
place  which  have  never  been  mentioned  in  history.  Thus, 
143  years  elapsed  before  the  occurrence  of  the  scene  we 
have  introduced.  The  intelligence  regarding  this  horror 
is  exceedingly  meagre.  Livy  simply  relates  that  the  hap- 
piness of  the  Roman  people  was  this  year  disturbed,  not 
by  a  defeat  of  the  army  this  time,  but  by  "a  great  dan- 

i  Orelli,  Intcriptionum  Latinarum  Collectio,  nos.  1803,  2443,  4105;  Livy, 
I.  43;  Drumatm,  S.  154;  Plutarch,  Numa,  17. 

sGnmier,  Hist,  des  Classes  Ouvrilres,  p.  70,  But  the  best  proof  of  this 
Is  Dionysius  ol  Haliearms'us,  lib  I.,  Consult  also  Bombardini,  DC  Car- 
cere  et  antique  ejus  Uxu,  quoting  the  law:  -'Romulus  permhait  maratis  jus 
vit»  ac  neceasiiudinis  in  uxores  suas  indulgere." 


148  EARLY  MUTINEERS   OF  ITALY. 

ger."  He  characterizes  it  indeed,  as  prodigious.'  Thus 
though  all  the  particulars  are  not  given  the  probabilities 
are,  that  it  was  a  memorable  affair. 

A  certain  number  of  slaves  of  Rome  formed  a  conspir- 
acy to  secretly  set  fire  to  the  city  in  the  night.  The  plan 
was  to  fire  the  houses  in  many  places  at  once.  Then, 
when  the  buildings  were  ablaze,  they  expected  a  stampede 
of  the  people  as  sometimes  occurs  at  a  burning  theatre  or 
church,  on  which  occasion  there  settles  a  horror  and  a 
craze,  the  people  losing  their  wits  and  thus  falling  an  easy 
prey  to  a  few  well  organized  ruffians  who,  with  a  stern 
leader  are  able  so  shrewdly  to  command  and  manage  as 
to  demolish,  plunder  and  make  off  with  much  that  the. 
flames  leave  unconsumed.  This  was  the  intention  of  the 
Roman  slave  conspiracy.  They  made  their  plans  to  throw 
the  city  into  a  vast  confusion  and  at  a  point  when  flames 
and  fright  combined  to  perfect  the  moral  chaos,  to  seize 
the  arms  from  the  armories  and  whatever  else  was  avail- 
able, put  the  citizens  to  the  sword,  set  their  fellow  slaves 
free,  and  having  completed  the  work  of  devastation,  take 
possession  of  the  property,  occupy  the  citadels  and  the 
capitol  and  settle  down  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  women 
whom  they  did  not  propose  to  hurt  in  their  general  mas- 
sacre of  the  men.  In  the  act  of  carrying  out  this  prodig- 
ious carnage  they  where  betrayed  by  two  of  the  conspira- 
tors as  is  commonly  the  case  in  such  attempts.  As  a  re- 
sult the  ringleaders  were  seized  by  the  officers  of  justice 
and  crucified.10 

It  is  very  singular  that  Livy,  usually  elaborate  when 
dwelling  upon  an  important  event,  should  so  peremptorily 
dismiss  this  subject  which  he  introduces  as  one  of  the  his- 
torical events  of  Rome  in  which  the  Roman  people,  as  it 
were,  through  the  protecting  power  of  their  god  Jupiter, 
narrowly  escaped.  How  many  or  how  many  thousands 
were  crucified,  excepting  the  two  who  exposed  the  con- 
spiracy to  Jupiter,11  is  not  stated.  We  recall  this  to  mind 
with  the  more  interest,  since  later  uprisings  like  those  of 
Eunus,  Aristonicus  and  Spartacus  were  followed  by  the 

sLiv.  lib.  IV.  45:  l'Annu«  felicitate  populi  Romani  periculo  potius  In- 
genti  quam  clade  insignis ''  Cf  Diony?.  Halicar,  excerpt  xi. 

10  Dionysius  of  Halicamiissus,  Acechcenl.  Rhomaihe,  xil.  6. 

u  Idem,  IV.  45:  ''Ave-tit  neandi  consilia  Jupiter,  indeclsque  due- 
ram  comprhenen-i  scutes  loe'as  dederunt." 


RUNAWAYS  IN  THE  SWAMPS.  149 

execution  of  thousands  upon  the  cross.  The  two  traitors 
were  richly  rewarded  with  money  and  freedom.11 

Biicher  reckons  the  year  in  which  occurred  another 
uprising  in  the  heart  of  Latium,  Italy,  to  have  been  B.  C. 
194.  It  was  a  very  dangerous  strike  of  slaves.  The  old 
Pomptine  swamps  in  ancient  times  near  the  mountain  city 
of  Setia  were  infested  with  the  runaway  slaves,  who  to 
exist,  were  obliged  to  sally  out  from  their  glades  where 
they  hid  by  day,  and  played  a  role  of  brigands.  All  about 
the  swamps  on  the  higher  levels,  the  soil  was  celebrated 
for  productiveness.  Setan  wines  were  renowned  for  their 
relish.  The  city  itself  was  between  these  marshes  and  the 
mountain  cliffs,  affording  the  brigands  an  immense  range 
of  forests,  rocks,  acclivities  and  jungles,  which  could  be 
used  as  fastnesses  when  the  pursuers  or  the  weather 
would  not  permit  the  fugitives  to  live  in  the  marshes  be- 
low. Of  course  the  little  fortified  Setia  full  of  good  things, 
but  maintained  by  the  labor  of  slaves,  was  an  object  of 
envy  and  a  moral  stumbling  block  to  this  order  of  submis- 
sion within,  and  their  cupidity  or  vengeance  without 
There  were  also  numbers  of  other  small  cities  and  towns 
in  this  region.  The  encroachments  of  the  rich  gens  fam- 
ilies upon  the  ager  publicus  or  public  lands,  which  under 
the  laws  of  Numa  and  Servius  Tullius  had  been  cultivated 
by  the  small  farmers,  sometimes  by  unions  of  farmers  and 
as  it  were,  in  a  socialistic  way,  had  driven  out  the  happy 
olden  days  and  flogged  into  their  places  the  horrid  slave 
system  of  cultivation.  Here,  at  the  foot  of  this  spur  of 
the  Appenines,  as  in  the  valley  of  the  Guicus  about  Per- 
gamum  and  the  exquisite  plateau  of  Enna,13  the  greedy 
slave  owner  had  fastened  upon  the  limbs  of  his  human 
chattels  the  clanking  chains  of  enforced  bondage  and  de- 
clared a  lockout  of  the  former  guilds  who  worked  the 
government  lands  on  shares.  That  they  had  no  other 
right  to  these  lands  than  that  of  lawless  might  we  shall  in 
our  chapter  on  Spartacus,  sufficiently  portray.14 

These  landlords,  it  is  conceded  by  every  one  who  has 
given  attention  to  the  subject,16  acted  in  every  way  the 

14 Idem:  "Indicibus  dena  milia  gravls  sens,  quro  turn  divitise  habeban- 
tnr  ex  aerario  mumerata  et  libertas  prsemium  full." 

13  See  cletaile  1  accounts  o:  the  great  uprisings  of  the  workinjmen  at 
these  places  chapters,  vii.— x. 

"Chapter  xil.  i^Drum.  Arb.  u.  Comm.  S.  152-3. 


150  EARLY  MUTINEERS  OF  ITALY. 

part  of  high-handed  land  pirates,  in  seizing  the  farms  from 
the  former  lessees  of  the  government  of  Rome.  Without 
doubt  these,  maddened  by  their  outrageous  deprivations, 
instigated  many  a  revolt  of  the  slaves  who  had,  as  chattels, 
and  under  the  bitterest  urgents  of  lash  and  threat,  been 
forced  to  take  their  places.  It  must  also  be  here  stated 
that  it  was  at  about  this  epoch,  just  before  the  great  slave 
insurrections  of  Eunus  in  Sicily  and  of  Aristonicus  at 
Pergamus  which  occurred  during  the  great  Agrarian  com- 
motions of  the  Gracchi.  It  was  a  time  when  a  third  of 
the  honest,  hard  working  population  were  being  literally 
choked  away  from  their  means  of  earning  a  living  for  their 
families.16  There  is  no  lack  of  information  regarding  the- 
grievances  of  either  the  slaves  impressed  into  the  labor 
they  hated,  or  the  former  tillers,  locked  out  from  the  labor 
they  loved.  It  is  therefore  without  wonder  that  we  hear 
of  the  outbreak  or  strike  of  B.  C.  198.  The  numerous 
bands  of  slave  bandits  prowling  among  the  swamps  and 
mountain  fastnesses  formed  an  alliance  17  with  the  slaves 
within  the  city,  who  were  as  dissatisfied  with  their  shackles 
as  were  the  degraded  agricultural  wretches  delving  out- 
side. The  collusion  spread  from  Setia  to  Praeneste  35 
miles  to  the  north  and  to  Circeji  a  few  miles  beyond. 
About  the  time  the  conjurators  were  ready  to  make  their 
deadly  dash,  was  the  moment  when  the  people  of  Setia 
were  to  have  a  gala-day.  What  sort  of  festivity  is  not 
exactly  clear.  But  judging  from  the  popularity  of  the 
gladiatorial  games  not  only  at  Rome  but  at  that  time,  also 
in  most  of  the  provincial  cities,  it  perhaps  may  be  plausi- 
bly conjectured  that  the  plays  alluded  to  by  Livy  were  the 
horrible  butcheries  of  the  arena.  This  public  event  af- 
forded the  conspirators  an  opportunity.  Their  plan  was 
to  take  advantage  of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  games  when 
least  the  populace  were  on  the  alert,  crash  upon  the  peo- 
ple, plunder  the  town,  seize  weapons  and  munitions  neces- 
sary ;  then  striking  for  the  town  of  Norba,  commit  the 
same  violence  there,  murder  the  masters  and  most  of  the 
other  patricians  and  proceed  to  other  cities  in  the  vicinity 
repeating  the  carnage  at  each  place  until  they  gained  the 
mastery  of  the  world !  Under  the  allowance  of  instruc- 
ts Plut  Tiberius  GtraccTius,  makes  a  plaintive  comment  on  their  sufferings 
nBucher,  Attfxt&nde  d.  unf.  Ari>.  b.  28. 


AGAIN   THE    TRAITOR.  151 

tion  the  slaves  of  that  period  enjoyed,  this  impossible 
scheme  should  not  seem  absurd;  since  they  doubtless  bad 
little  knowledge  or  conception  of  a  world  stretching  be- 
yond their  vision  and  experience. 

Again  the  traitor.  Setia  was  under  the  prsetorship  of 
C.  Cornelius  Lentulus.  Just  at  the  outbreak  of  the  strike, 
but  whether  during  the  tumult  of  a  bloody  fray  we  are 
uninformed,  two  of  the  conspirators  lost  courage  and  be- 
trayed the  plot.  Livy  says:  "The  object  was,  when  Setia 
was  once  in  their  hands,  by  the  combined  result  of  mur- 
der and  sudden  tumult  to  first  seize  and  similarly  serve 
the  cities  of  Norba  and  Circeji.  Information  of  this  ter- 
rible plot  was  carried  to  Rome  and  laid  before  the  Prse- 
tor,  L.  Cornelius  Merula,  by  two  slaves  who  arrived  from 
the  scene  before  daybreak  and  in  systematic  order  ex- 
posed the  anticipated  operations  of  the  insurrectionists."  " 

Instantaneous  action  was  now  necessary  at  Rome.  The 
Senate  was  in  a  few  minutes  convoked.  The  two  Roman 
consuls  for  that  year,  (B.  C.  198),  Sextus  .ZElius  Psetus  and 
T.  Quinctius  Flamininus,  were  absent  with  their  com- 
mands in  Gaul  and  elsewhere;  so  Merula  one  of  the  four 
gediles  or  tribunes  of  the  people,  was  called  to  the  task  of 

WLiv.  XXXII.  26.  "Quern  ad  modum  Gallia  proeter  gpem  quieta  eo  anno 
fait,  ita  circa  urbem  servilis  prope  tumultus  est  excitatus.  Obsides  Carthagi- 
niensium  Setiae  custodiebantur.  Cum  iis,  ut  principum  liberis,  magna  vis  ser- 
vorum erat.  Augebant  eorum  numerum,  ut  ab  recent!  Africo  bello,  et  ab  ipsia 
Setiiiis  captiva  aliquot  nationis  eius  empta  ex  prada  mancipia.  Cum  conjura- 
tionem  fecissent,  missis  ex  eo  numoro  primum  qui  in  Setino  agro,  deinde  circa 
Norbam  et  Circeios  servitia  sollicitarent,  satis  iam  omnibus praaparatis  ludis  qui 
Setiae  prope  diem  futuri  erant,  spectaculo  intentum  populum  adgredi  statuerant, 
Setia  per  csedem  et  repentinum  tumultum  capta,  Norbam  et  Circeios  occupare. 
Hujus  rei  tarn  feed®  indicium  Roman  ad  L.  Cornelium  Merulam  praetorem  ur- 
bis  delatum  est.  Serri  duo  ante  lucem  ad  eum  venerunt,  atque  ordine  omnia 
quae  acta  futuraque  erant  exposuerunt.  Quibus  domi  custodiri  iussis,  praetor 
senatu  vocato  edoctoque,  quae  indices  adferrent,  proficisci  ad  earn  conjurationem 
quaerendam  atque  opprimendam  iussus,  cum  quinque  legatis  profectug  obvios 
in  agris  sacramento  rogatos  arma  capere  et  sequicogebat.  Hoc  tumultuario  de- 
lectu  duobus  milibus  ferme  hominum  armatis  Setiam,  omnibus  quo  pergeret 
ignaris,  venit.  Ibi  raptim  principibus  conjurationis comprehensis fuga servorum 
•X  oppido  facta  est  Dimissis  deinde  per  agros  qui  vestigarent  *********. 
Egregia  duorum  opera  servorum  indicum  et  unius  liberi  fuit.  Ei  centum  milia 
gravis  aeris  dari  patres  iusserunt,  servis  vicena  quina  milia  asris  et  libertatem; 
pretium  eorum  ex  aerario  solutum  est  dominis.  Haud  ita  mul to  post  ex  eiusdem 
conjurationis  reliquiis  nuutiatum  est  servitia  Praeneste  occupatura.  Eo  B.  Cor- 
nelius praetor  prot'ectus  dn  quingentis  fere  hominibus,  qui  in  ea  noxa  erant,  sup- 
plicium  sumpsit.  In  timore  civitas  fuit  obsides  captivosque  Poenorum  ea  mo- 
liri.  Itaque  et  Romse  vigilix  per  vicos  servatse,  iussujue  circumire  eas  minores 
magistrates;  et  triumviri  carceris  lautumiarum  iutentiorem  custodiam  habere 
iussi;  et  circa  nomen  Latinum  a  prostore  litterte  misssa,  ut  et  obsides  in  private 
servarentur,  nequi;  in  publicum  prodeundi  lacultas  ditretur,  et  captivi  ne  minus 
decem  pondo  compedibus  vincti  in  nulla  alia  quam  in  carceris  publici  custodia 
essent." 


152  JSARLT  MUTINEERS   OF  ITALY. 

suppressing  the  conspiracy.  At  this  impromptu  meeting 
of  the  Roman  Senate  it  was  ordered  that  Merula  should 
take  the  field  in  person.  There  being  at  that  instant  very 
few  regular  troops  at  command,  no  time  was  lost  in  wait- 
ing orders  to  mass  them,  and  it  appears  that  he  set  out 
immediately  with  few,  gathering  militia  as  he  proceeded 
on  his  way  to  Setia ;  for  it  appears  that  before  reaching 
the  scene  of  the  danger  the  number  of  his  forces  reached 
2,000  men.  No  particulars  are  given  regarding  the  at- 
tack on  the  conspirators.  We  have  no  information  as  to 
whether  there  occurred  a  conflict.  We  are  informed  that 
the  ring  leaders  of  the  conspiracy  were  arrested;  also  that 
the  slaves  were  thrown  into  great  confusion.  Livy  states 
that  the  town  of  Setia  was  the  place  where  many  hostages 
from  the  Carthagenian  army  were  kept.  The  battle  of 
Zama  between  Scipio  and  Hannibal,  A.  D.  202,  had  re- 
sulted disastrously  to  those  old  enemies  of  Rome  and  these 
hostages  were  kept  by  the  conqueror  as  a  pledge  against 
further  hostilities.  Being  penned  in  together,  they  also 
naturally  joined  the  conspiracy  and  the  ring-leaders  re- 
ferred to  by  Biicher,  may  have  been  some  of  the  veritable 
warriors  of  the  great  Hannibal  now  pining  in  custody  as 
hostages  around  the  barracks  of  Setia. 

But  here  again,  as  in  the  story  of  Spartacus,  the  excel- 
lent history  of  Livy  is  broken  off  and  lost.  How  much  of 
the  real  story  is  missing  may  never  be  known.  But  for 
the  epitome  or  heading  of  this  book  we  should  be  left  in 
the  dark  entirely  as  to  the  results;  but  there  is  a  passage 
in  this  which  states  that  2,000  of  the  conspirators  were 
arrested  and  slaughtered.20  Judging  from  the  usual 
method  of  servile  executions,  it  might  be  inferred  that  the 
captured  like  those  of  Spartacus,  Eunus  and  Aristonicus, 
were  crucified  upon  the  gibbet.  It  is  more  probable  how- 
ever, since  some  of  them  were  Carthagenian  veterans, 
that  part  of  them  were  crucified  and  the  remainder  butch- 
ered; because  it  was  against  the  Roman  code  of  honor  to 
hang  veteran  soldiers  or  others  than  those  of  the  servile 
race,  upon  the  ignominious  cross.  Jesus  a  religio-p oliti- 
cal  offender  was  crucified  by  the  Romans  in  a  Roman  pro- 

W  Aufstande  d   unfreien  Arb.  S,  29. 

soLiv.  jib.  XXXII.  Epitomy.    '  Conjuratio  servorum,  faota  de  solvendiki 
Carthageniesium  obsidibus  opprossa  est;  duo  milia  necati  sunt. 


CRUCIFIXION.  153 

vince,  not  because  of  his  offence,  which  might  have  re- 
ceived a  nobler  or  less  ignominious  punishment,  but  be- 
cause he  was  a  workingnian,  not  a  soldier;  and  conse- 
quently ranked  with  the  servile  class  in  contradistinction 
to  the  noble  class  of  the  gens  family,  of  the  Pagan  religion. 
The  uprising  was  suppressed  after  a  struggle,  the  dura- 
ation  and  the  particulars  of  which  are  left  for  our  curiosity 
to  surmise.     But  the  causes  of  the  grievances  among  the 
slaves  were  too  profound  to  be  easily  stamped  out.     M<T- 
ula  and  his  legions,  their  reeking  sabers  and  victory-boast- 
ing tongues,  their  tales  of  gibbet  and  dagger-to-the-hilt, 
the  agony  of  woe  and  death,  had  scarcely  had  time  to  set- 
tle into  the  first  lull;  the  perpetrators  of  the  treachery 
which  discovered  the  plot  had  but  received  their  reward21 
by  order  of  the  Roman  Senate,  when  news  came  that  from 
the  direction  of  Prseneste  the  spirit  of  insurrection  was 
again  rife — this  time  in  and  about  that  city — and  that  a 
plot  had  been  disclosed  among  the  slaves  who  again  in 
great  numbers  were  caught  making  a  singular  spring  in 
hopes  of  making  themselves  masters  of  it.     Again  their 
design  was  baffled.     The  Roman  forces  were  once  more 
sent  out  with  orders  to  exterminate  the  slaves.     The  same 
prgetor,  L.  Cornelius  Merula,  was  soon  on  the  warpath  and 
as  before,   the  inexperienced  proletaries,  among  whom 
were  many  Punic  hostages  with  their  slender  preparations 
and  want  of  arms,  could  stand  no  ground  with  their  pow- 
erful enemy.     A  battle  must  have  been  fought  of  consid- 
erable importance,  and  the  result  was  certainly  a  disaster 
to  the  slaves  and  Carthagenian  hostages  and  prisoners  to 
whose  secret  machinations  the  blame  is  principally  attri- 
biited  by  Dr.  Bucher,  also  Livy  himself  by  implication.22 
The  number  of  poor  wretches  who  suffered  on  the  scaffold 
reached  500,  making  2,500  public  executions,  besides  the 
number  not  given  in  either  case  who  were  killed  in  the 
conflicts  before  being  overcome.     A  great  turbulence  was 
caused  thoughout  the  community. 

Strong  vigilance  was  now  instituted  at  Rome  to  protect 
the  smaller  places  from  a  recurrence  of  those  dangers 
which  had  stamped  their  terror  upon  the  inhabitants. 
The  triumvirs  ordered  a  closer  guard  to  be  kept  over  the 

*lk'Ein-e!?ia  dnorum"  &e.     Liv.  XXXII.  cap.  26. 

24  Livy,  Idem;  Biich.  Affstunde  d-c.  29:      Allgemeln  mass  man  giheim- 
en  Umtriebeii  der  punigchea  Gt^s-thi  umi  Gefangenen  die  Sohnld  bel." 


154  EARLY  MUTINEERS  OF  ITALY. 

great  underground  prison  called  career  lautumiae?3  where 
those  taken  prisoners  were  placed.  It  was  ordered  that 
the  Carthagenian  hostages  be  degraded  to  the  condition 
of  slaves  to  work  for  private  individuals  and  disallowed 
further  privilege  of  being  seen  any  more  in  public  or  hav- 
ing any  more  enjoyment  in  the  open  world.  The  shackles 
in  which  the  prisoners  were  chained,  were  ordered  to  weigh 
not  less  than  10  pounds.  The  prison  in  which  they  were 
thenceforth  to  be  forever  kept  was  the  public  career,  a  de- 
scription of  which  may  now  be  interesting. 

"  There  was  a  place  "  says  the  Italian  jurist  Bombardini,24 
"  in  the  ancient  Roman  prison,  called  the  Tullian  cell, 
whither  you  descend  by  a  ladder  to  the  distance  of  12 
feet,  into  a  damp  hole,  excavated  in  the  earth.  It  was 
walled  in  on  all  sides  and  vaulted  overhead  having  the 
sections  adjoined.  It  had  a  putrid  odor  and  a  frightful 
outlook."  But  this  is  but  the  beginning,  (B.  C.  650-500,) 
of  what  it  had  developed  into,  by  the  time  of  which  we  speak. 
(B.  C.  198).  Long  before  this  the  prisoners  here  were  at 
work.  "Their  masters  saw  them  but  rarely;  their  food 
was  lowered  to  them  through  breathing  holes,  also  their 
straw  and  scanty  clothing."  u  Varro  likewise  tells  of  the 
latomia  or  quarry  and  the  ergastulum  called  the  prison 
Tulliana.™  At  any  rate  the  public  prison  still  to  be  seen, 
was  a  deep  and  spacious  excavation  under  the  Capitoline 
Hill,  which  had  been  made  by  prison  labor.  The  object 
of  the  ancients  in  setting  prisoners  at  work  was  twofold. 
First,  vengeance  rather  than  correction,  as  in  our  days  of 
comparative  enlightenment.  Secondly,  economy;  for  the 
ancients  had  the  contract  system  with  all  its  brutalities 
and  horrors.  The  stone  quarried  out  of  these  diggings 
furnished  good  building  material  and  the  holes  thus  left 
made  prisons  for  the  workmen  who  quarried  it.  Thus,  in 
course  of  ages  Rome  became  what  Pliny  called  the  Urbs 
pensilis™  or  city  hanging  in  the  air.  Most  of  these  stu- 

»  Bombardini.  Dt  Carzere  et  antiquo  eju*  Usu,  eap.  ill. 

•*/<J«m,  Cap.  ill,  p.  746  of  Thesaurus  Grcevii  et  Gronovii,  Supplement. 

K Maurice.  Hist.  Politiqueet  Anecdotigue  des  Prisons  de  la  Seine,  p;,.  1-4. 

M  Varro,  De  Re  Ruslica,  cap.  iii.  8  speaks  of  them  and  of  the  popular. 
opinion  that  these  holes  were  nurseries  of  serpent'.  Cf.  Prudeutiu?,  Hymn  V. 

i  Nat.  Hist.  Speaking  in  another  place  (lib  XXVIII  4,),  Pliny  thinks- 
thev  were  dusr  by  Tulius  Hostilius:  "L.  Piso  pricao  annalium  auctor  est, 
Tnllum  Hoatllium  regem  ex  Numae  libris  eodera, multi  vero,  mama- 
rum  rerum  fata  et  ostenta  verbis  permutarl.  Cum  in  Tarpeio  fodientes  de- 
lubro  fundamenta,  caput  humanum  invenlssent,  missis  ob  id  ad  se  legatis 


DESCRIPTION   OF  THE  DUNGEONS.          155- 

pendous  catacombs  are  still  to  be  seen  in  a  more  or  less 
perfect  state  of  preservation.  Like  the  vast  catacombs  of 
Paris,  they  were  originally  stone  quarries;  then  some  of 
them  differentiated  into  sewers,  cloacae,  some  into  public 
prisons,  some  into  subterranean  workshops,  ergastula. 
The  person  condemned,  if  of  low  rank  without  family  or 
money,  was  sent  ad  opus  pnblicum,  to  the  public  works. 
"  It  was  a  place  into  which  people  were  snatched;  exca- 
vated from  sharp  rocks,  immensely  deep;  a  huge  cutting 
or  grotto  quarried  in  the  depths  with  passages  interrupted 
by  great,  sharp-cornered  rocks  between  which  the  victims' 
bodies  squeezed.  Projecting  crags  bristled  as  they  sprang 
forth  from  the  walls  in  darkness  of  midnight  and  frowned 
horribly  over  the  abyss — a  place  of  all  others,  from  which 
the  person  doomed,  when  once  thrown  in,  never  after- 
wards saw  the  light  of  day." a8  Of  coarse  the  convicts 
were  furnished  with  lamps  to  light  their  steps  and  hands 
at  work. 

The  reader  is  now  left  to  judge  for  himself  as  to  the 
justice  or  injustice  of  the  causes  lurking  at  the  bottom  of 
all  ancient  strikes. 

We  are  again  grateful  to  Dr.  Karl  Biicher,  who  reminds 
us  of  the  account  sparingly  given  by  Livy,  of  another  great 
uprising,  B.  C.  196,  among  the  agricultural  laborers  of 
Etruria.29  This  noble  country  stretched  from  the  Tiber 
on  the  south  to  the  Ticino  on  the  north.  The  rapturous 
landscapes  of  the  Arno,  the  ID  any  beautiful  Appenine  lakea 
and  mountains  were  Etruscan.  No  land  ever  subjugated, 
by  Rome  possessed  more  agricultural  or  mineral  wealth. 
Its  original  inhabitants  possessed  the  refined  civilization 
whence  Rome  took  most  of  her  prosperity.  Bold,  inven- 
tive, mechanical,  progressive,  the  Etruscans  ill-brooked  the 
fetters  of  slavery  fastened  upon  them  like  gyves  by  the- 
greedy  land  grabbers  who  took  possession  of  the  soil, 
somewhat  in  the  manner  of  the  land  owners  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  at  the  present  time.  The  descend- 
ants of  the  ancient  Etruscan  stock  held  much  of  the  land, 

Etrnriae  celeberrimus  vates  Olenns  Calenus  pneclarum  Id  fortunatumqne 
cei-iiens,  interroi'ntione  in  suam  gentem  transferreteutavit,"  etc.  For  a  de- 
script  on  see  Prude  it  us.  Hymn  V. 

-*E  it  rope?  Epit.  Rom.  Hist.    Era  of  Tarquin. 

29  Aufslunde  ct.  unf.  Arb  S.  29, 

Granier,  de  Cass.  Hist.  Classes  Ouv.  chaps,  xiii.  xiv.  ;  Orell.  nos.  3346;  3347. 
3673,  1239,  of  Inser.  Lat.  Cot.  See  also  within  account  of  the  Veciigalaia 


156  EARLY  MUTINEERS  OF  ITALY. 

as  free  agriculturers  and  to  them  the  government  had  long 
farmed  it  on  shares,  thus  securing  to  the  laborers  a  good 
living  from  the  proceeds  and  to  the  government  a  good 
revenue  which  was  paid,  not  in  money  but  in  kind,  the 
rent  tax  being  collected  through  the  celebrated  system  of 
the  vectigalia.30  The  slave  system  of  the  rich  lords,  who, 
without  a  tittle  of  right  by  law,  and  indeed  in  direct  defi- 
ance of  the  precedents  established  by  Numa  and  Servius 
Tullius,  as  well  as  the  Licinian  law,  which,  through  the  in- 
trigues of  the  great  proprietors  had,  from  its  passage,  re- 
mained a  dead  letter,  was  now  becoming  a  terrible  scourge. 
Indeed,  in  after  days,  Tiberius  Gracchus  on  his  way  to 
Spain,  passed  through  Etruria  and  found  to  his  horror 
that  once  populous  land  in  the  hands  of  a  few  lordly  mas- 
ters who  had  completely  locked  the  original  agriculturers 
out  and  supplanted  them  with  slaves.  The  scene  of  slavery 
and  woe  so  stirred  the  blood  of  this  noble  Roman  that  he 
devoted  his  remaining  life  to  the  great  agitation  which  is 
famous  to  this  day  as  the  agrarian  movement  with  the 
bloody  commotions  that  attended  them,  resulting  in  his 
own  assassination.  Such  was  the  terrible  condition  of 
human  slavery  at  that  time,  B.  C.  196.  In  fact  the  slave 
system  had  to  a  large  extent,  driven  out  the  once  free  and 
prosperous  labor  not  only  of  Etruria  but  also  of  lower 
Italy,  Sicily,  Asia  Minor,  large  parts  of  Greece,  Spain  and 
the  smaller  islands;  and  Rome  was  becoming  the  fatten- 
ing pen  of  the  arrogant  grandees  who  lived  in  degenerate 
profligacy  upon  the  lash-enforced  drudgery  of  millions  of 
slaves.  Perhaps  in  telling  these  portentous  truths  to  the 
world  in  the  light  of  a  social  historiographer,  we  are  among 
the  first  to  discover  the  germ  of  a  deeply  hidden  virtue  in 
the  revolt  whose  history  occupies  but  eight  poverty-solem- 
nized lines  in  the  great  history  of  Livy.  But  to  the  stu- 
dent of  sociology  even  this  poor  sketch  brings  back  to  us 
the  profound  wisdom  of  Anaxagoras  and  Aristotle  who 
taught  that  all  knowledge,  all  virtue  and  all  progress  emi- 
nate  from  humblest  origin  and  that  we  can  have  nothing 
permanent  or  perfect  except  through  investigation  and 
experiment  involving  the  severest  trials.  And  although 
the  poor  slaves  fell  in  thousands  by  the  lash,  the  dungeon 

3o_4w/«<,  d.  unf.  .-irb.    "Trotzdem  gelang  es  ihm  nicht  ohne  heftigen  Kampf 
die  fcinzelen  Hauten  zu  zerspringen," 


GREAT  STRIKE   IN  ETRURIA.  157 

bhe  cross  and  although  hundreds  of  years  elapsed  before 
the  bonds  of  their  slavery  were  broken  yet  who  shall  say 
their  dying  agonies  here  did  not  contribute  to  the  eumu- 
lous  of  forces  which  at  last  swept  their  fetters  away  ? 

L.  Furius  and  Claudius  Marcellus  were  consuls  at  Rome 
when  this  agrarian  uprising  occurred.  Their  offices  of 
state  requiring  their  attention,  the  prsetor,  ^1.  Acilius 
Glabro  had  in  charge  the  "  peace  of  the  community."  Lit- 
tle is  known  of  the  details  of  this  uprising.  The  slaves 
were  inhumanly  oppressed  and  ready  to  accept  desperate 
conditions  if  they  held  out  the  least  promise  of  success  in 
freeing  them  of  their  sufferings.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
old  cultivators  had  for  centuries  lived  in  ease  upon  the 
public  lands  and  their  organizations  interlinked  with  those 
of  the  collegia  and  sodalicia  which  were  just  then  being 
treated  with  severe  censure  and  even  threat  by  the  Roman 
citizens  who  managed  legislation.  Efforts  were  begun 
about  this  time  to  suppress  most  of  the  labor  organiza- 
tions. The  wealthy  who  were  engaged  in  driving  out  free 
agricultural  labor  and  supplanting  it  by  that  of  slaves  on 
the  plantations,  were  particularly  bitter  against  free  labor, 
both  in  city  and  country. 

When  the  news  of  the  uprising  reached  Rome,  Glabro 
immediately  set  out  with  one  of  the  two  legions  of  soldiers 
at  command.  By  the  appearance  of  things,  the  organiza- 
tion was  not  complete  among  the  insurgents.  The  slaves, 
as  Livy  calls  them  in  his  sweeping  terms,  but  more  prob- 
ably also  the  disaffected  part  of  community  generally  and 
now  locked  out — those  who  formerly  tilled  the  land  on 
shares  and  also  the  slaves  themselves — all  of  whose  cause 
was  common,  met  Glabro  hilt  to  hilt  and  in  a  bloody  bat- 
tle were  overcome.  Biicher  surmises  that  though  the 
Romans  were  victorious,  it  was  not  without  a  heavy  battle.31 
Great  was  the  number  of  fallen  workingmen  and  the  num- 
ber of  those  of  their  ranks  taken  prisoners  was  still  greater. 
The  leaders  of  the  revolt  were  scourged  and  hung  upon 
the  cross.  The  remaining  slaves  were  given  up  to  their 
merciless  masters  to  receive  at  their  hands  a  double  por- 
tion of  hardships  in  the  future.  The  freedmen  engaged 
in  this  insurrection  would,  under  the  Roman  custom  of 

« Livy,  XXXm.  crp3<>:  "Ex  his  (the  »tnker«)  mnlti  occisi  raulti  capti: 
alios  everbrato.,  crucibus  a.lfixit,  qui  urinuu.es  conjui-au v.:i-  .uerunt  ,  s.ioa  (ioin 
this  re.stuuu." 


158  EARLY  MUTINEERS  OF  ITALY. 

treating  enemies  taken  in  battle,  be  sold  as  slaves  or  held 
as  criminals  and  sent  to  the  quarries  and  mines  to  linger 
for  life  at  hard  labor;  for  Biicher  here  correctly  states 
that  only  under  extraordinary  circumstances  did  the 
Romans  ever  treat  with  lenity  their  captured  enemies  and 
the  slave  insurgents  of  all  others,  are  known  to  have  re- 
ceived the  most  relentless  measure  of  malignity  at  their 
hands.32 

One  of  the  countries  in  which  Spartacus  was  best  re- 
•ceived  and  from  among  whose  people  he  obtained  the 
largest  number  and  the  best  volunteers  who  accepted  with 
gratitude  his  offers  of  freednm,  was  Apulia.  It  was  that 
rich,  well  watered,  pastoral  tract  lying  to  the  north  and 
bordering  on  the  Tarentine  gulf.  About  120  years  before 
the  great  and  memorable  war  of  Spartacus  broke  out, 
these  fine  lands  lying  between  the  eastern  slope  of  the 
Appenines  and  the  Adriatic,  were  prey  of  the  slave  sys- 
tem. "  Where  earlier,  the  industrious  farmers  had  thrived 
in  happiness  and  plenty,  herdsmen  now  in  lonliness  drove 
and  herded  countless  flocks  of  cattle  and  sheep  belong- 
ing to  Roman  Senators  and  knights."  8S  Apulia  being  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  mountains  from  Rome  and  most 
of  the  opulent  cities  of  Italy,  was  a  region  topographi- 
cally suitable  for  robbers,  both  of  land  and  sea.  To  the 
west  were  the  mountains,  whose  rocks  and  forests  afforded 
shelter  for  men  of  desperate  nerve.  The  introduction  of 
servile  hands  through  the  slave  trade  which  had  driven 
free  labor  from  the  agricultural  and  pastoral  regions  of 
Italy  had  naturally  been  followed  by  a  variety  of  desper- 
adoes whose  bands  at  the  time  of  our  story,  infested  the 
whole  stretch.  He  also  surmises  with  much  intelligence 
that  these  organized  gangs  were  not  without  a  distinct 
purpose  in  working  for  their  fellow  men,  and  our  own  in- 
spection satisfies  us  that  a  philosophy  or  culture  had  from 
high  antiquity  existed  for  the  redemption  of  the  poor 
everywhere. 

In  another  chapter  we  shall  show  the  relationship  be- 
tween the  societies  of  Dionysoi  and  those  of  the  Bac- 
chantes. Indeed  there  appears  little  difference  between 
them.  In  both  words,  oneLatin,  the  other  Greek,  we  have 


.  Aufst.  d.  unf.  Arb.    S.  31, 
**  Luder.s,  Dionyt.  K&nst.    passim. 


BACCHANTES  COMING  TO  THE  LIGHT.         159 

the  same  meaning.  They  were  in  Greece,  in  the  islands, 
in  Asia  Minor  and  Palestine,  mostly  organizations  of  arti- 
ficers or  skilled  mechanics;  **  but  because  they  held  fes- 
tivities and  conducted  them  on  methods  peculiar  to  them- 
selves as  well  as  because  they  were  working  people,  they 
were  looked  upon  with  suspicion.  No  author  of  antiquity 
or  orator  could  speak  with  respect  of  the  bacchanals.  We 
know  by  the  inscriptions  that  they  had  many  societies  at 
Rome  and  in  the  provincial  cities.  Cicero  and  Livy  spurn 
them.  No  doubt  the  obloquy  they  suffered  drove  them 
into  these  fastnesses  and  made  them,  by  sheer  compulsion, 
assume  suspicious  attitudes.  However  this  may  be,  we 
find  Livy  associating  them  with  another  great  strike  or 
uprising  of  the  workingmen  which  occurred  B.  C.  185-184, 
in  Apulia  and  along  the  coast  between  there  and  Bruttium. 

It  was  during  the  days  of  the  stern  Cato's  power,  in  the 
consulship  of  Appius  Claudius  Pulcher  and  M.  Sempronius 
Tuditanus.35  The  so-called  province  of  Apulia  was  in  the 
care  of  the  praetor,  L.  Postumius.  This  man's  watcb- 
pround  was  Apulia  and  the,  shores  of  the  gulf  of  Tarentum. 
.t-  few  years  afterwards  the  famous  Spartacus  led  his  army 
<K  rebel  workingmen,  consisting  of  volunteer  gladiators, 
suepherds,  bacchantes  and  slaves,  to  Metapontem,  where 
he  spent  the  memorable  winter  of  B.  C.  Y3-72.36  Too  just 
to  allow  disorder,  too  wise  to  permit  even  a  draught  of 
wine  to  be  drank  in  carousal,  too  good  to  give  his  loved 
soldiers  the  bridle,  this  modest  gladiator  here  proved  him- 
self the  terror  of  the  haughty  Romans  and  a  prototype  of 
modern  military  virtue,  genius  and  discipline.  And  this 
town  was  in  the  very  valleys  of  the  scenes  of  our  present 
story.37  Livy,  as  is  usual  with  ancient  historians,  when 
speaking  of  the  uprisings  of  the  oppressed  working  classes 
makes  short  work  of  his  story.  We  linger  upon  his 
stingy  descant  because  of  the  peculiarly  interesting  asso- 
ciations connected  with  the  mightier  revolt  of  the  great 
gladiator  chieftain,  one  hundred  and  ten  years  afterwards 
upon  the  same  spot 

There  had  been  many  cases  of  dissatisfaction,  some  of 
had  reached  the  ears  of  the  vigilant  Romans. 

14  Livy.  XXXIX.     cap  29. 

16  Consult  chapter  xii   of  this  work.  « Bach     Avfal.  <tc  S    31. 

»T  Livy,  XXXIX.    i9,    and  41. 


160  EARLY  MUTINEERS    OF  ITALY. 

Great  organizations  among  the  enslaved  shepherds  and 
drovers  were  heard  of.  A  case  was  reported  in  which  de- 
tachments of  half  starved  cowboys  and  ploughmen  threw 
away  their  bondage,  knocked  down  and  garroted  their 
overseer,  seized  his  knife,  his  sword  and  club  and  made 
their  way  to  the  mountain  caves  and  jungles  whence  with 
desperate  revenge  and  want,  they  returned  reinforced  to 
plunder  and  sack  their  master's  goods.  It  got  so  that  the 
government  highways  were  iinsafe;  and  in  ten  years  from 
the  time  of  our  last  story  of  the  strike  in  Etruria,  192-182, 
another  enormous  "  slave  conspiracy  "  had  been  found  ta 
exist. 

As  soon  as  reliable  news  of  this  reached  Rome,  L.  Post- 
umius :!S  the  praetor,  or  as  the  same  informant  names  him 
"  propraetor "  in  another  place,39  instantly  marched  with 
a  large  force  of  troops  to  the  scene.40  The  praetor  had 
I  reviously  had  charge  of  all  Apulia  and  Bruttium.  He 
had  the  watch  of  all  the  Adriatic  coast  from  Rhegium  to 
Mt.  Garganus,  east  of  the  A  ppenine  range  and  most  likely 
also  a  considerable  force  of  tro.ops  stationed  at  different 
points  where  Roman  praesidia  or  garrisons  existed.41  This 
is  self  evident ;  since  the  senators  and  knights  owning  the 
lands  and  the  slaves  who  worked  them  were  also  military 
officers  as  well  as  lawgivers  and  it  was  easy  for  them  to 
legislate  for  placing  the  standing  army  where  it  should 
best  protect  their  gluttonous  acquirement  of  wealth. 

The  details  of  the  manoeuvres,  skirmishes  and  battles 
gone  through  with  before  the  climax  was  reached,  are  left 
unwritten.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  battle  was 
fought;  because,  of  the  total  number  of  the  insurgents 
taken,  no  less  than  7,000  were  condemned  to  the  mines 
and  of  the  great  number  who  were  captured  many  were 
executed  which  means,  of  course,  crucified.42  ,  Those  who 
were  caught  were  certainly  sent  either  to  the  mines,  ad 
metallum,  to  the  Roman  prison,  career  Tuttiamcs,  or  to  the 
quarries,  lapicidinae.  But  the  most  probable  thing  is, 

as  Livy,  XXXIX.  41,  ad  fin  :  "L.  Postumius  propraetor,  cui  Tarentum 
provincia  evenrat,  magnas  pastorum  coujugationes  vinelicavit  et  reliqnaa  Bao- 
chanailum  qurestioni*  cum  omni  e.-t  cura." 

39  Biicher.  Aufstanrte  der  unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  31,  no'e  2. 

<o  Weissexborn.   Com  on  Livy,  xxxv.  20 

«Livy.   XYYIY.  29,    -De  umltig  Fumptum  est  supplicium." 

« .Mem,  cep.  41:  "Partim  conipiehei  SOB,  Romam  ad  senatum  miseit,  in 
carcerem  omnes  a  P.  Cornelio  conjecti  sum.'1 


IDLE  SLANDER    OF   THE  BACCHANALS.      161 

that  there  being  so  many,  they  were  distributed  according 
to  their  adjudged  guilt,  in  the  three  prisons.43  The  horrors 
of  either  of  these  three  places  have  been  described.  But 
this  awful  retribution  inflicted  upon  the  poor  struggling 
workingmen  and  their  suffering  families  by  the  military 
arm  of  Rome,  protecting  slavery  the  most  brutal  and  de- 
moralizing institution  that  ever  cursed  the  nations  of  the 
earth  or  whetted  the  appetites  of  the  greedy  by  locking 
out  honest  laborers  from  their  natural  employ,  failed  to 
stifle  the  hopes  of  those  hardy  mountaineer  farmers  whom 
tyranny  had  turned  into  brigands.  Bucher  renders  a 
word  of  comment  on  Livy's  short-cut  information,  to  the 
effect  that  those  who  escaped,  re-organized  their  banditti 
in  a  distant  point  and  began  anew  their  work  of  pillage, 
which  he  characterizes  as  having  become  the  plague  of  the 
times — a  plague  which  was  in  effect,  the  foundation  of  that 
terrible  brigandage,  never  suppressed  in  Italy  until  in  re- 
cent years.  This,  then  is  the  origin  of  those  terrible 
u  bacchanalian  orgies  " — the  innocent  workingmen,  long 
organized  in  th^  unions  or  guilds  "  for  self-protection  and 
co-operation  entirely  tinder  the  laws  and  sanction  of  Numa 
and  Tullius  in  the  old,  happy  days  of  Home's  golden  econ- 
omies, now  driven  and  dispersed  to  the  wailing  winds  of 
her  night  of  slavery ! 

Noble  writers  of  the  very  ancient  past  have  spoken 
kindly  of  the  Bacchantes  both  of  the  Greek  and  Latin- 
speaking  races  of  mankind,  and  lately  I:'6"kh,  the  archae- 
ologist who  has  done  more  than  any  other  man  to  reveal 
the  true  status  of  ancient  life  and  has  uncovered  many 
errors  which  policy  and  prejudice  have  cultivated,  openly 
acknowledges  that  he  finds  no  element  of  harm  or  of  wrong 
intention  in  the  bacchanalian  organization  among  Greek- 
writing  Societies  of  Asia  Minor,  and  his  invaluable  evi- 
dence we  shall  bring  forward  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  be- 
cause he  fixes  his  opinion  from  the  unerring  evidence  of 
the  stones  bearing  inscriptions  from  their  own  hands. 

Hesiod  the  poet  and  celebrated  master  who  lived  prob- 
ably more  than  a  thousand  years  before  Christ  and  came 
of  the  lowly  stock,  was  the  first  known  labor  agitator.  His 
greatest  poem,  "  Works  and  Days,"  full  of  pleadings  for  the 

«-Foran  elaborate  description  of  tlie  trade  unions  under  Numa,  also 
on  Servius  Tullius  and  Clodius,  see  chapters  xiii.— xix.  of  this  work. 


162  EARLY  MUTINEERS     OF  ITALY. 

poor,  is  the  first  book  on  the  labor  question.  He  may  be 
styled  the  father  of  the  emotions  of  pure  sympathy,  be- 
cause the  earliest  witness. 

But  already  at  his  time  there  were  thousands  of  labor 
societies  that  were  discussing  wiih  him  this  great  prob- 
lem and  with  him  practically  budding  a  cult  of  co-opera- 
tion full  of  the  tender  sympathies  of  human  brotherhood 
and  of  mutual  support 


CHAPTER  TO. 

DRIMAKOS. 

A  QUEER  OLD  MAN  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS. 

STRIKE  OF  DRIMAKOS,  the  Ohian  Slave — Co-operation  of  the 
Irascible  with  the  Sympathetic — A  Desperate  Greek  Bonds- 
man at  Large — Labor  Grievances  of  the  ancient  Scio — Tem- 
perament and  Character  of  Drimakos — Yast  Number  of  nn- 
fortunate  Slaves — Revolt  and  Escape  to  the  Mountains — 
Old  Ruler  of  the  Mountain  Crags — Rigid  Master  and  loving 
Friend — Great  Successes — Price  offered  for  his  Head — How 
he  lost  it — The  Reaction — Rich  and  Poor  all  mourn  his  Loss 
as  a  Calamity — The  Brigands  infest  the  Island  afresh  since 
the  Demise  of  Drimakos — The  Heroon  at  his  Tomb — An  Al- 
tar of  Pagan  Worship  at  which  this  Labor  Hero  becomes  the 
G-od,  reversing  the  Order  of  the  Ancient  Rights — Ruins  of 
his  Temple  still  extant — Athenseus — Nymphodorus — Archae- 
ology— Views  of  modern  Philologists. 

WE  are  indebted  to  the  geographer  and  historian  Nym- 
phodorus Siculus  for  an  account  of  a  very  remarkable 
Btrike  and  maroon-like  revolt  of  slaves  in  the  island  of 
Scio.  This  island — the  ancient  Chios — which  lies  in  the 
Greek  archipelago  at  a  distance  of  7  miles  from  the  coast 
of  Asia  Minor,  contains  an  area  of  little  more  than  500 
square  miles.  It  has,  from  high  antiquity,  been  celebrated 
for  the  ever  varying  beauty  of  its  scenery,  its  perpetual 
verdure,  its  forests  that  are  inaccessible  to  civilized  life, 
its  countless  streams  and  streamlets  whose  pure  waters 
rush  from  calcarious  steeps  and  fall  into  the  tiny  rivers  or 
the  sea. 

Chios  is  aged  as  the  primeval  home  of  the  Pelasgians 
and  the  Leleges  of  Cyclopean  fame  and  antiquity,  and 


164  DRIMAKOS. 

consequently  is  Greek  in  its  remotest,  sense.  It  -was  of 
all  lands  most  accursed  with  slavery.1  \V  iiile  the  Pelopon- 
nesus and  Attica  recruited  their  slave  ranks  with  their 
own  sons  and  daughters  and  their  prisoners  of  war,  Chios 
betook  herself  to  the  disgraceful  slave  traffic  to  secure  her 
recruits — a  custom  undoubtedly  borrowed  from  her 
neighbors,  the  Phoenicians.  What  the  tale  of  startling 
uprisings  and  shocking  cruelties  of  these  struggling  peo- 
ple would  be  if  told,  we  know  not;*  for  we  are  obliged  to 
let  all  knowledge  lapse  in  the  aeons  of  an  unwritten  past 
and  patiently  wait  until  the  era  of  our  story,  accidentally 
recorded  by  Nymphodorus,  a  geographer,  as  having  tran- 
spired a  short  time  before  his  day. 

Judging  from  this  we  are  able  to  fix  its  date,1  not  at 
about  250  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ  as  surmised  by 
Dr.  Bucher,  but  at  a  very  much  earlier  period.  We  fol- 
low the  story  of  Nymphodonis,  who  received  this  informa- 

i  All  over  Greece  and  especially  in  Chios  in  Ionia  there  was  constant  fear  of 
slave  rebellions.  Plato  (Republic  ix.  5  fin.  and  in  very  many  other  passages), 
mentions  this  fact  as  a  constant  terror  in  those  days. 

*  The  indications  are  that  there  constantly  occurred  in  those  times  mutinies- 
among  the  working  people.  Many  of  them  were  prodigious.  Dim  information 
of  one  in  Southern  Greece  is  found,  which  occurred  between  300  and  400  years 
before  Christ.  The  cruelty  of  masters  was  so  great  that  when  an  earthquake  de- 
stroyed 20,000  people  it  was  believed  to  be  their  punishment  for  cruelty.  The 
all-prevailing  fear  of  being  murdered  by  slaves  is  frequently  hinted  at  by  Plato. 
To  read  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  first  book  of  Macrobius  is  really  worth  the 
attention  of  the  thoughtful.  It  is  replete  with  evidence  that  anciently  there  was 
a  strong  anti-slavery  movement.  Macrobius,  (Saturnatiorum,  I.  xi.  7-9,  Eys.sen- 
hardt),  says:  "  Via  tu  cogitare  eos  quos  ius.tuum  uocas  isdem  seminibus  ortos 
eodem  frui  caelo,  aeque  uiuere,  aeque  mori?  Serui  sunt:  immo  homines.  Serui 
Bunt :  immo  conserui,  si  cogitaueris  tantundem  in  utrosque  licere  fortunes.  Tarn 
tu  ilium  uidere  libernm  potes  quam  ille  te  seruum.  Nescis  qua  sat  ate  Hecuba 
seruire  cceperit,  qua  Croesus,  qua  Darei  mater,  qua  Diogenes,  qua  Plato  ipse  ? 
Postremo  quiditanomen  seruitutis  horremus?  seruus  eat  quidem,  »ed  nece-- 
sitate,  sed  fortasse  libero  animo  seruus  est.  Hoc  illi  nocebit  si  ostenderis  qu  * 
non  sit.  Alius  libidini  seruit,  alius  auaritiae,  alius  ambitioni,  omnesspei,  onmus 
timorl."  Again  (Idem  13-14;  come  the  prophetic  words:  "Nonpotest  amor  cum 
timore  mlsceri.  Unde  putas  adrogantissimum  illud  manasse  protierbium  quo 
iactatur  totidem  hostes  nobis  esse  quot  seruos  ?  Non  habemus  illos  hostes  sed 
facimus,  cum  in  illos  superbiseimi  contumeliosissiini  crudelissimi  sumus  et  ad 
rabiem  nos  cogunt  pernenire  deliciaa,  ut  quicquid  non  ex  uoluntate  respondit 
iram  furoremque  euocet."  But  it  was  fear  rather  than  compassion  that  forced 
our  hard-hearted  forefathers  to  talk  in  this  strain. 

*  Schambach,  Itallsche  Sclavenaufgland,  I.,  S.  5;  refers  to  this  slave  insurrec- 
tion in  the  following  clearly  expressed  language:  "  Auch  das  riclic  CMos  war  za 
derselben  Zeit  B.  C.  134,  der  Schauplatz  einer  wilden  Solavenemporung,  die  erst 
nach  mehreren  Jahren  unterdruckt  wurde.  Athenaeus  VI.  He  seems  to  have 
no  doubt  as  to  the  era  of  the  story  of  Drimakos  being  identical  with  that  of  th» 
great  servile  wars.  But  what  time  did  it  begin  ?  This  is  the  important  ques- 
tion. Athenaeus  says  or  intimates  that  Drimakos  was  in  the  vigor  of  manhood 
when  he  began  the  revolt;  but  he  was  an  old  man  when  he  died  and  up  to  the  last 
the  malcontents  held  their  ground.  Now  if  we  agree  with  Schambach  that  hi* 
"  zu  derselben  Zeit "  meant  the  end  of  the  period,  or  thereabout,  we  must  add  at 
least  30  years  to  allow  him  to  become  an'  old  man  which  makes  the  rebellion  to 
have  begun  about  the  year  B.  C.  3G4. 


HOW  WE  COME  TO  KNOW  THE  FACTS.        165 

tion  directly  from  the  Chians  themselves,  from  whom  he 
must  have  received  his  data  while  visiting  the  island  and 
its  inhabitants  in  search  of  information  for  his  book  which 
was  a  description  of  the  coast  of  Asia  minor  and  the  mul- 
titude of  islands,  large  and  small,  that  stud  the  Archi- 
peiago. 

The  islanders  recounted  to  Nymphodorus  that  a  slave 
named  Drimakos  had  lived  and  died  in  those  parts,  who>e 
history  was  remarkable.  Consequently  this  Sicilian  Greek, 
whose  errand  was  knowledge,  became  curious  to  know 
about  the  strange  man  Drimakos  and  all  the  particulars, 
in  order  to  embellish  the  chapter  of  his  a  Nomima  Asias  " 
or  customs  and  habits  of  the  Asians — in  other  words,  his 
descriptive  geography.  And  now  that  our  attention  is 
fastened  upon  so  weird  an  object  as  a  runaway  slave 
with  drawn  dagger,  bolting  from  his  pursuing  owner  and 
climbing  a  crag  to  a  mountain  den  with  a  dozen  abolition- 
ists as  desperate  as  he,  we  pause  to  ask,  who  is  this  Nym- 
phodorus ? 

Alas  such  curiosity  is  rewarded  with  the  aggravation  of 
a  mystery !  We  know  nothing  of  Nymphodorus.  We 
only  know  that  he  lived  and  wrote  in  his  geography  a  de- 
scription, not  only  of  the  island  of  Scio  as  it  was  before 
the  time  of  Christ,  but  also  of  the  customs  and  usuages 
that  were  practiced  by  its  inhabitants;  and  interspersed 
in  his  work  there  was  many  an  incident,  description 
and  story,  one  of  which  was  this  tale  of  Drimakos,  the 
runaway  slave.  We  know  that  this  priceless  literary  gem, 
like  the  noble  but  lost  chapters  of  Diodorus,  and  Sallust, 
of  Livy,  of  Fenestella,  Dion  Cassius,  Theophanes,  Nicolaus 
Damascenus,  Csecilius  Calactenus  and  a  wealth  of  others 
with  their  flood  of  facts,  come  to  us  only  in  the  second- 
hand and  oblique  mention  of  others  who  read  them  before 
they  were  destroyed;  or  sometimes  in  multilated  frag- 
ments of  the  originals  which  escaped  the  vandals  who 
perhaps  thought  that  by  robbing  posterity  of  facts  that 
disclosed  the  beastliness  of  their  institutions  they  might 
confer  a  favor  upon  the  sin  as  well  as  the  sinners  whose 
power  they  fawned  upon  and  flattered.  At  any  rate  the 
work  of  Nymphodorus  is  lost;  and  the  question  remains: 
who  is  Nymphodorus  and  what  about  Drimakos  the  Chian 
runaway  slave? 


166  DRIMAKOS. 

The  fact  is,  Athenseus,4  an  Egyptian  of  antiquity,  saw 
and  read  this  book  of  Nymphodorus  the  geographer,  and 
in  his  "  Delpnosophistae  or  Banquet  of  the  Learned,"  a 
pot  pourri  or  hodge-podge  of  science,  history  and  anec- 
dote, reproduced  for  us  the  essential  facts  concerning  this 
affair  of  Drimakos,  which  was  no  little  incident  to  make 
light  of,  but  a  vast  insurrection  of  slaves,  like  that  of  Emms 
and  Spartacus,  involving  a  lifetime,  with  bloody  wars  and  a 
great  and  terrible  and  successful  struggle  of  "  outlaws " 
against  society.  It  is  Athenseus,  the  middleman  then,  not 
Nymphodorus,  whom  we  must  follow  and  carefully  scan, 
picking  every  word  down  to  the  bone,  to  get  the  meat  of 
his  language ;  always  suspicious  enough  of  translations  to 
avoid  them  entirely,  especially  when  exhuming  such  liter- 
ary mummies  as  those  wrapped  and  preserved  in  chemicals 
musty  with  the  taint  of  labor. 

Nymphodorus  in  his  lost  work  on  the  customs  and  usa- 
ges of  the  Asians,5  says  it  was  not  long  before  his  time 
that  the  facts  concerning  Drimakos  occurred.  But  al- 
though no  doubts  exist  regarding  the  truth  of  the  general 
facts,  nobody  is  clear  as  to  the  exact  time  of  Nymphodorus. 
"Whether  the  insurrection  of  the  Chian  slaves  was  a  spas- 
modic affair,  belonging  to  one  lifetime,  or  whether  the 
episode  of  Drimakos  was  simply  one  incident  distinguished 
for  its  magnitude  and  duration  among  many  that  for  ages 
were  constantly  occurring,  is  a  problem.6  We  shall  pre- 
sent the  facts  as  given  in  the  Deipnosophistae  of  Athenaeus 
carefully  adhering  to  the  points  in  the  text  and  seasoning 
the  story  only  to  befit  the  character  of  our  pages  for  the 
general  reader.  But  there  seems  to  be  no  evidence  to 
confute  our  theory  that  Nymphodorus  wrote  his  story  at 
least  a  century  before  Christ,  and  that  the  true  age  of 
Drimakos  was  that  of  the  other  great  slave  rebellious  which 
began  to  rage  about  a  century  and  a  half  before  ChrisL 

4  Most  chronologista  make  Athenaeus  to  have  lived  about  A.  D.  250.    Dr. 
Biicher,  therefore,  must  certainly  be  entirely  incorrect  in  putting  the  date  of  the- 
work  of  Nymphodorus  at  "  Mitte  des  dritten  Jahrhundertes  nach  Christo ;  Attf- 
tt&dc  der  unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  22,  since  Athenaeus  himself  lived  before  that  time. 
We   are  fully  confirmed  in  the  opinion  that  Drimakos'  uprising  was  contem- 
poraneous with  that  of  Eunus  of  Sicily  and  Aristonicus  of  Pergamus,  and  was  an 
outcrop  of  that  great  agitation. 

5  Nd;ti|ua  Ao-ias.    The  island  of  Chios  was  only  separated  from  the  continent 
of  Asia  by  a  strait  7  miles  wide,  and  easily  visible  from  the  main  shore.    For  a 
good  description  of  this  island,  see  Eckenbrecher:  Die  Intel  Chios,  Berlin,  1845. 

6  Pauly's  Real  Encydopcedia,  Vol.  V,  S.  193,  contains  an  article  from  Wester- 
mann,  discussing  the  probable  time  of  Nymphodorus,  q.  v. 


HIS  DESPERATE  FLIGHT.  167 

From  the  story  as  related  by  Athenseus  it  does  not  ap- 
pear that  Drimakos  escaped  from  his  master  amid  scenes 
of  blood-shedding,  but  that  those  horrors  were  reserved 
for  the  immediate  future.  He  was  then  a  young  man  of 
great  sternness  and  determination,  shrinking  from  noth- 
ing he  had  set  his  mind  upon,  and  too  nervous  and  sensi- 
tive to  bear  the  galling  humiliations  of  slavery.  He  was 
also  a  man  of  sympathies,  and  felt  for  his  fellow  slaves  as 
well  as  himself.  In  such  a  frame  of  mind  he  could  not 
but  have  felt  deeply  for  the  thousands  of  poor  creatures 
who  had  been  bought  or  kidnapped  from  their  native 
homes  and  brought  to  this  island  to  be  sold  like  animals 
and  here  forced  to  delve  under  the  merciless  lash.  Most 
of  the  labor  of  land  culture  and  mechanics,  all  the  house- 
hold drudgery,  as  well  as  the  attendance  upon  arrogant 
lords  and  ladies,  and  the  office  work  of  the  government, 
was  performed  in  those  days  by  slaves;  and  Chios  was  no 
exception. 

Like  Achseos,  Cleon,  Athenion  and  Spartacus,  the  des- 
perate young  man  broke  his  bonds  by  some  violent  effort. 
It  may  have  been  the  immediate  result  of  a  quarrel  with 
his  master  or  his  overseer,  or  perhaps  a  conspiracy  of  a 
handful  of  fellow  bondsmen  as  in  the  case  of  Athenion 
or  Spartacus ;  perhaps  a  stampede  after  a  battle  with  clubs 
and  butcher-knives.  One  thing  we  know  upon  such  points 
in  general:  masters  were  on  the  alert  at  aU  times,  having 
little  confidence  in  their  human  chattels,  and  kept  them 
under  guard,  often  chained  at  night  and  in  many  places, 
branded. 

When  Drimakos  arrived  in  the  mountains  with  his  band 
of  runaways,  he  found  in  the  clefts  of  rock  and  among  the 
sun-warmed  ledges,  suitable  fastnesses  wherein  not  only 
to  hide  in  safety  but  to  sleep,  and  obtain  repose.  Hunt-* 
ers  and  other  mountaineers  had  been  there  before  them 
and  built  an  occasional  cabin.  "With  the  rocks  and  frag- 
ments they  erected  more,  and  with  axes  and  perhaps  saws 
and  other  tools,  covered  them  and  constructed  for  them- 
selves rough  seats  and  tables.  But  food  was  only  to  be 
had  in  the  granaries  and  houses  below,  in  the  richly  cul- 
tivated valleys,  and  in  the  distant  city  they  had  left. 

Here  the  masters  were  up  in  arms,  ready  for  an  expedi- 
tion in  pm-suit  of  their  escaped  bondsmen.  The  word 


i&3  DRIMAKOS. 

went  vigorously  forth  that  they  must  be  retaken,  either 
dead  or  alive.  On  the  other  hand  while  preparations  were 
making  for  a  grand  pursuit,  other  slaves  took  flight  and 
centered  to  the  mountain  fissures  of  Drimakos,  now  their 
acknowledged  leader. 

How  they  got  their  first  supply  of  provisions  we  are 
unaware,  but  they  certainly  did  not  starve.  The  same- 
question  might  in  the  absence  of  these  particulars  also  be 
asked  as  to  how  they  were  supplied  with  arms  with  which 
to  do  battle  with  their  pursuers.  What  we  know  is  that 
they  were  the  recipients  of  good  luck;  partly  through 
their  own  courage  and  partly  through  a  combination  of 
circumstances  which  favored  them  from  the  start. 

The  whole  truth  is,  they,  like  Eunus  and  the  smiling 
goddess  Demeter,  or  Spartacus  and  his  fortune-telling 
wife,  who  foretold  prodigies  of  happiness,  had  also  their 
Messiah,  soothsayer,  prophet  and  warrior  in  the  person  of 
Drimakos,  whom  they  implicity  obeyed  and  worshiped 
with  a  superstitious  awe;  and  so  long  as  the  enthusiasm 
of  this  belief  in  him  as  a  Savior  remained  untarnished, 
their  heaven-inspired  dash  and  valor  were  insurmounta- 
ble and  their  prowess  was  unscathed.  Moreover  there 
prevailed  a  superstition  among  the  slave-owning  Chians 
themselves,  against  slavery  and  especially  this  class  of 
slave-holding  practiced  on  the  island  of  Chios.  In  proof 
of  this  we  quote  from  Athenseus  the  following: 

"  Nyinphodorus,  it  is  thus  seen,  has  furnished  us  with 
the  account;  but  I  find  that  in  many  copies  of  his  history 
Drimakos  is  not  spoken  of  by  name.  Yet  I  cannot  imag- 
ine that  any  of  you  are  ignorant  of  what  Herodotus,  that 
prince  of  historians,  said  regarding  the  Chian,  Panionios, 
and  what  righteous  punishment  he  underwent  for  having 
castrated  three  boys  and  sold  them.7  Then  again  Nicol- 

i  Herodotus,  Historian,  viii.  Urania,  105-106.  The  horrible  story  of  revenge 
is  thus  told  by  Herodotus  and  tersely  illustrates  the  almost  inconceivable  bru- 
tality and  cruelty  of  slavery  or  of  the  greed  which  inspired  it.  "  E«  rovreav  Sq 
Hy&acreuii'  6  'EpnoTi/u.0?  f/v  rip  /j.eyio'Tr)  Ttcri?  fi&i)  a&iKTrjBcvri  iyevero  vavruv  riav  q/*ti? 
t5jLL€p*  a\6vra  yap  avrov  itirb  iroAcucuc  KO.L  irta\cou.fvov  uH'«eTcti  IIcu'itoj'i09  acvjp 
Xios,  os  rr)v  £6r)v  Ka.retrrri<Taro  an'  tpyiav  avoaitarariav  .  o«at  yap  »CTij<raiTO  iraiia? 
<ifieo?  eirafu/uepouT,  eicrapviav,  ayiviiav  eiruiAee  es  2ap5tf  rt  icai  'E<l>f<TOV  ^prjfiaTWf 
fnya\iav.  irapa  yap  Touri  |3ap/3apoi<7i  rt/buurepot'  eicri  oi  evvovxoi  irurnot  civexa  rnf 
tro<rr)s  riav  evop\iiav.  aAAovs  T«  5ij  o  Ilavuavios  t^erapc  TroAAoii?,  ore  Troicvfievos  tie 
Tovretav  Ti)f  $or]V,  KOI  Sr;  Ko.1  TOVTOV.  <ai  oir  yap  TO  rrai'ra  eSvcrTvxfe  °  'Ep/noTifiO?, 
airiKVe'erat  <<c  riav  Sap&iiov  irapa  SatriArja  /j.er'  a\\iai>  Siap<av  \povov  £(  irpoiovros 

'  6.  'fls  Se  ro 


viv-rtav  riav  tvvov\<av  erifiij^Tj  juaAto-Ta  irapa  H«'pf  r;.     106.  'fls  Se  ro  (TTpareufio  TO 
6  ^a«7tAtvv  fnl  raj  'A<6^vas  eiav  ev  2ap£i<ri,  ivdavroi  (cara^a;  Kara  6^ 


ANCIENT  ANTI-SLAVERY  DISCUSSION.       169 

ans  the  peripatetic  as  well  as  Poseidonras  the  Btoic  both 
wrote  in  their  histories  that  the  Chians  were  afterwards 
enslaved  by  Methridates,  tyrant  of  Cappadocia,  and  bound 
hand  and  foot,  were  given  over  to  their  own  slaves.  Surely 
the  gods  were  angry  with  the  Chians." 8 

Nor  was  this  superstition  against  all  kinds  of  chattel 
slavery  confined  to  the  island  of  Chios.  The  people  of 
Attica  and  different  parts  of  Greece  were  tormented  with 
conscience  on  account  of  their  unjust  system  of  slavery 
and  the  ever-recurring  revolts  of  their  slaves;  and  the 
L  ockrians,  who  never  to  lerated  slavery,  taunted  them  for 
their  wickedness.9  But  the  revolts  of  the  slaves  them- 
selves, and  the  growing  number  of  the  psomokolaphoi  or 
runaways  and  the  consequent  loss  to  their  masters,  to- 
gether with  the  desperate,  often  bloody  deeds  of  these 
runaways  whetted  their  sins  and  inflamed  their  fears  lest 
the  gods  should  frown  upon  them  as  the  upholders  of  this 
national  abomination.  Add  to  all  this  the  further  and 
significant  fact  that  the  freedmen  all  around  them  were  in 
sympathy  with  the  slaves  and  were  often  organized  into 
powerful  unions  which  sometimes  even  permitted  the 
slaves  to  membership.10  Especially  was  this  the  case 

TI  irpriyfia.  b  'Eppiortfiot  e?  yjfv  TTJV  Mu<ri7)V,  TIIV  Xtoi  fitv  vefiovrai,  'ATapveus  Si 
KoAeerai,  svpiV/cti  TOV  Ilaptioriop  evSavTa.  firiyvoiif  Si  i\eyt  irpbj  avrpf  iroAAovs  <cai 
4>tAi'ovs  Adyov;'  irpwra  fiiv  oi  KaraAc'yup  ova.  airos  SC  ixflvov  ex01  aya6a'  SevTepa. 
4f  oi  i»ri<rx»'<v/iei'os  avr'i.  rovretav  5<ra  fiif  oyafla  irouj<ret,  yv  Konicrdnevos  TOU?  oixeras 
oixiji  intivy  iotrre  viroSe£a.fievov  aa^ecov  TOVS  Aoyovs  TOV  ilacuui'ioi'  KOfii&ai  TO. 
rixva  KOJ.  Tr\v  yvvalxa-  cus  Si  apa  TravoiKifl  fiiv  TrepieAa^e,  e\tye  6  'Ep/nortjiOf  ra.Sf 
U*O  irdvriav  av&piav  7)61;  J/oidAio'Ta  an-'  Hpytav  avoaitaTaTiav  T'OV  fiiov  KTT)<ro/ie»'e.  Tt  <re 
iyia  KO.KOV  y  avrbs  TI  r<av  inwv  Tit  fpyaera.TO,  rf  <re,  i)  T<av  aiav  Tira,  OTI  /u.e  an'  avSpbt 
«irot7j<ra9  TO  /irjSev  tlvat;  e66/c««s  Te  Bfout  Arjaen'  Ota  ejLL7r\aru  Tore-  ot  (Tt  iroirj<ra.vTa 
ai-oaia,  i-o^cu  cixaiu  xpetafifvot,  VTTT)yayov  e?  \fpas  Ta9  epas.  <uo~T<  <re  /IT;  fj.e/j.-j,a.<78tu 
TT)V  an'  ififo  TOI  «aoni«n)>'  Siicriv ."  'O?  5c  oi  raura  ufci'jiae,  i^Se'i'Taii'  rail'  irai&iav  «s 
oi^tf,  ^vayica^eTO  o  I7ancoiao?  Tiav  etavTOv  iraiStav  Tf<T<TffMov  iovviov  TO.  aiSola  awoTa.fi- 
vt iv  avay*a^dfievo«  Si  enoice  TO.VTO.'  aiiTov  Tt,  cu?  TavTa  tpydaraTO,  oi  ifai&f;  avayxa.- 
£6ntvot  airtTafivov.  Navi<oviov  fifv  vvv  oiJTta  irtpiri\6t  >j  Tt  rt'irts  xal  o  'Ep/iOTi/ios'  ' 
..  8  Athenseus  Deipnoiophistce ,  Lib.  VI.  cap.  vii. 

»  AthenaeuB,  idem;  Biickh,  Public  Economy  of  the  Athenians,  mentions  it 
10  See  Luders,  Die  Dionysischen  K&nsUer  S.  46-47,  also  S.  22.  We  have  how- 
ever given  Luders'  views  and  proof  (seep.  98  and  note  27)  in  full  in  another  chap- 
ter, q.  v.  The  evidence  as  to  slaves  being  sometimes  members  is  overwhelming. 
Foucart,  Associations  Religieusei  Chez  Lea  Greet,  pp.  5-6  Bays:  "  II  en  etait  tout  au- 
trement  pour  les  thiases  et  lee  eranes.  Non-aeulement  ils  etaient  ouverts  aux 
femmes  mais  encore  les  etrangers,  les  personnes  de  condition  ou  d'origme  ser- 
vile y  avaient  accea.  Ce  dernier  point  est  d'une  grande  importance,  fort  heur- 
eusement,  les  temoignages  des  monuments  epigraph iquessontassezpreria  pour 
1'etablir  avec  une  eiitiere  evidence,  n  serait  inutile  de  citer  toutes  les  inscrip- 
tions qni  en  donnent  la  preuve;  j'en  ai  seulement  choisi  quelques-unes,  pour 
montrer  que  cette  composition  6tait  la  meme  dans  les  dififerents  pays.  Les  ex- 
amples sont  assez  nombreux  pour  qu  il  soit  permis  d'etendre  la  conclusion  aux 
cas  memes  oil  la  preuve  directe  fait  defaut,  et  de  regarder  1'admission  des  fem- 
tnes,  des  etrangers,  des  affrancliis  et  des  esclaves,  comme  un  caractere  conimun 
3e  toutes  ces  associations."  Foucart  further  shows  that  freedmen  and  fresd- 


170  DRIMAKOS. 

among  the  Greek-speaking  slaves — far  more  so  than  among 
the  Romans — and  in  these  society  meetings  they  all, 
bondsmen  and  freedmen  alike,  under  protection  of  their 
secret  eranos  or  union,  discussed  their  sufferings  and  per- 
haps also  concocted  their  plots  of  salvation.  Thus,  from 
all  sources — the  inner-consciences,  the  frowning  gods,  the 
slaves'  own  grievances  and  the  constantly  recurring  strikes 
maintained  by  runaways  and  bloody  battles — greedy  cap- 
italists were  reminded  of  this  abomination  which  they  were 
hugging,  even  in  ancient  days. 

The  words  of  Nymphodorus  plainly  tell  us  that  in  the 
Island  of  Chios  revolts  and  escape  to  the  mountains  were 
of  common  occurrence.  His  words  reproduced  in  the 
banquet  of  the  learned  by  Athenaeus  make  the  matter 
plain.  We  give  them  below  in  a  note  from  the  old  scholi- 
ast latin  version  of  1557,  as  they  introduce  the  story  in 
plain  words.11  The  reader  is  now  fully  prepared  by  this 
description  of  the  surroundings  to  comprehend  the  story 
of  Drimakos  whom  we  left  in  the  mountains  with  his  fol- 
lowers, busily  at  work  with  saws  and  axes  building  rough 
cabins  and  meditating  a  desperate  swoop  upon  the  city 
they  had  left,  that  they  might  seize  a  part  of  the  grain 
and  stores  which  their  own  former  labor  and  that  of  their 
fellow  bondsmen  had  created.  This  expedition  was  well 
planned.  Of  this  we  have  assurance  in  the  words  of 

woman  got  their  freedom  many  times  through  their  organization.  Under  the 
head  "Affranchis  ou  esclaves,"  p.  7,  he  cites  inscriptions  whose  epigraphs  clearly 
explain  that  slaves  were  members  in  Rhodes.  We  have  elsewhere  shown  that 
the  ancient  states  owned  slaves.  They  were  known  as  public  servants.  "  tine 
inscription  de  Vile  de  Rhodes  mentionne  une  societe  religieuse  composee  des 
esclaves  publics  de  la  ville  (voyez  p.  112,  note  4).  La  mutilation  du  monument 
enleve  a  ce  temoignage  une  partie  de  sa  valeur.  Mais  1'examen  des  noms  pro- 
pres  qui  se  rencontrent  dans  les  autres  inscriptions  prouve  que  ces  associations 
admettaint  les  affrauchis  et  probablement  meme  les  esclaves."  On  page  112, 
cited  by  Foucart  occur  the  words:  "  tin  fragment  description ,  restitue  par  Keil 
d'une  maniere  bardie,  main,  a  tout  prendre,  vraisemblable,  montrerait  la  com- 
position particuliere  de  la  societe  qui  se  plat-ait  sous  le  patronage  de  Zens  Ataby- 
rios.  Elle  aurait  ete  fonnee  des  esclaves  publics  de  la  ville  de  Rhodes,  et  c'eet 
1'un  d'enx  qui  aurait  exerce  le  sacerdoce.  'Yirtp  Ato<rarotJupi  a.arav  rdv  rat  irdAio? 
SovAwi/.  Evai.  .«vo5  ypa/u.juaT€vs  San  otriot  icpartv  eras  Aibs  *Arat!H>pt'ov  .  .  .  TUP 
Kvpiiav  'PoSi'aiv  iv  «fyi««  A  it  'A  ra&vpi<a  .  .  ,  .  Philologus,  2d  suppl.,  p.  612."  It 
seems  exceedingly  strange  that  this  learned  author  should  lack  the  power  of 
penetration  so  far  as  to  continually  make  a  hack  of  a  pet  idiosyncrasy  regarding 
these  innumerable  organizations  having  been  strictly  religious  orders.  The  fact 
is,  as  we  continually  show,  braced  also  by  epigraphists  like  Mommsen  and  Bbckh 
that  they  were  bonafide  labor  societies  compelled  under  vigorous  laws  to  cover 
their  real  object  with  the  shield  of  the  Pagan  faith. 

11  "Haec  igitur  de  illis  scripsit  Nymphodorus  in  Asise  Navigatione.  Chiorum 
servi  ab  ipsis  dominis  aufugieutes  in  montes  sublimioraque,  ipsorum  devastantet 
multi  simul  coacti  sunt.  Est  enim  ipsa  insula  aspera  mnltisque  arboribus  re- 
ferts."  AthenaBns.  VI.,  chap,  vii.,  (Nalalis  de  Comisilmf.  \'nt'tn.  1550). 


BLOODY  AND  DECISI VE  BA TTLES.  171 

Athenseus  who  says  that  Drimakos  was  not  really  the  ag- 
gressor but  that  the  Chians  sent  an  expedition  into  the 
fugitives'  retreat,  and  that  the  latter  being  favored  and 
well  generaled,  came  off  victorious.  This  means  that  the 
Chians  were  decoyed  into  ambush  by  Drimakos,  attacked, 
cut  to  pieces,  their  arms  captured  and  the  slaves  left  com- 
plete masters  of  the  field.  In  other  words,  there  was 
fought  a  bloody  battle,  even  a  succession  of  battles,  and  of 
such  terrible  cruelty  that  even  the  heart  of  the  stern  Dri- 
makos was  melted  with  sympathy  and  he  soon  sought  a 
council  of  arbitration  to  put  a  stop  to  the  ruthless  effusion 
of  blood.  But  this  did  not  occur  until  sometime  after  the 
first  decisive  contest  with  the  masters  was  fought. 

When,  by  this  and  other  victories,  the  slaves  found 
themselves  in  full  possession  of  their  caverns,  and  their 
new  home  supplied  with  provisions,  their  soldiers  with 
arms  captured  from  the  defeated  masters,  and  their  num- 
bers much  augmented  by  incoming  detachments  of  runa- 
ways from  all  parts  of  the  island,  they  began  to  think  of 
discipline  and  order.  Drimakos  was  made  king,  com- 
mander-in-chief  and  despot ;  and  he  began  to  exercise  an 
iron  rule  over  his  subjects  nearly  as  severe,  but  more  just 
than  that  of  their  former  masters."  Having  vanquished 
the  armies  of  the  masters  in  repeated  and  bloody  battles, 
causing  a  state  of  things  which  may  have  lasted  for  years 
— since  both  the  duration  and  dates  are  forgotten  by  our 
historian — the  slaves  continued  to  get  their  provisions 
from  the  granaries,  barns,  farms  and  stores,  in  the  follow- 
ing extraordinary  manner: 

A  council  or  conference  was  called  by  this  victorious 
man  of  the  mountains,  whereat  the  Chian  masters  were 
invited  to  participate  with  him  and  his  victorious  legions 
on  equal  terms,  under  a  flag  of  truce.  When  the  gener- 
als and  magistrates  of  the  city  and  the  rebels  met,  king 
Drimakos  made  a  speech  which  contained  a  covenant  of 
arbitration,  perhaps  unheard  of  before  or  since.  We  give 

12  The  latin  version  Athen,  VI.  chap.  vili.  Natal,  de  Com.  Yen.  1556,  tells  it  in 
these  words  :  "  Paulo  ante  nostra  tempera  famulum  quendam,  narrantipsi  Chii. 
profngisse  atque  in  ipsis  montibus  habitasse,  qui  cum  esset  bellicosus  animoque 
virili  fugitivorum  servorum  Dux  ac  imperator  declaratus  erat,  non  aliter  atque 
reges  solet  exereitus  cum  sepius  postea  Chii  copias  in  eum  eduxissent.nihilque 
facere  poesent,  ubi  eos  Primacus  (sic  enim  servus  nominatur)  frustra  interior 
conspexit,  sic  ad  ilios  locutus  est."  The  gist  of  his  speech  we  give  in  foil,  FvJ» 
Supra. 


172  DRIMAKOS. 

the  substance  of  his  proposition  in  his  own  words,  in  order 
to  show  that  singular  examples  of  co-operation  and  arbi- 
tration have  been  tried  in  the  remote  past: 

"An  oracle  has  been  consulted  and  our  revolt  has,  from 
the  start,  been  upheld  by  the  gods.  We  shall  never  lay 
down  our  arms.  We  shall  never  again  submit  to  the 
drudgery  of  bondage.  We  are  fixed  in  our  own  minds 
and  act  under  counsel  of  the  Almighty.  Nevertheless  if 
you  follow  my  advice  and  adhere  to  it  in  the  strictest  faith, 
after  signing  this  pledge  and  contract,  the  war  may  be 
terminated  and  the  further  effusion  of  blood  dispensed 
with;  then  we  can  mutually  live  in  peace  and  enjoy  tran- 
quility  on  terms  which  will  be  full  of  prosperity  to  the 
whole  state  of  which  we  all  are  members." 

The  Chians  who  had  been  humbled  by  their  defeats  and 
losses  consented  to  an  armistice  of  war,  thus  recogniz- 
ing for  the  slaves  the  dignity  of  a  public  enemy.  They  found 
it  a  convenience,  doubtless  against  their  will,  to  submit  to 
propositions  of  reason.  Drimakos  then  explained  his  plan : 

"  What  we  want  is  enough  to  subsist  upon; — no  more. 
In  future,  when  hunger  and  need  inspire  us,  we  shall  visit 
your  granaries,  flocks  and  stores  and  take  what  we  require 
but  always  by  weight  and  measure.  The  weights  and 
measures  are  to  be  these  which  we  have  brought  you  and 
exhibit  before  your  eyes.  Here  also  is  a  signet 13  with 
which  we  propose  to  seal  up  your  storehouses  and  grana- 
ries after  taking  from  them  what  we  require,  as  by  this 
means  you  will  be  able  to  distinguish  our  work  from  that 
of  common  robbers.  Begarding  the  slaves  who  in  future 
shall  escape  from  you  to  our  camp,  I  shall  rigidly  investi- 
gate the  causes  of  each  man's  running  away,  weigh  his 
story  carefully,  and  after  submitting  his  case  to  an  unbi- 
ased examination,  if  he  be  found  to  have  suffered  injustice 
at  your  hand,  proving  that  he  has  been  treated  wrongly 
by  you,  I  shall  protect  him.  If  on  the  contrary,  the  run- 
away slave  be  found  not  to  have  had  a  sufficient  cause,  I 
shall  return  him  to  his  master." 

Drimakos,  it  is  seen,  thus  recognized  and  upheld  slavery 
as  an  institution,  only  punishing  its  abuses.  This  fact 

ig  By  the  word  used  in  A thensMis  meaning  signet  or  seal  we  are  probably  to 
nnderetand  a  contrivance  of  some  kind  for  locking  up  the  store-honses  and 
granaries— locks  and  keys. 


HIS  METHOD    OF  INTERPROTECTION.        173 

corresponds  with  the  ancient  opinion  that  slavery  was 
right;  a  thing  not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at,  considering 
the  prevalence  of  this  aged  institution  and  the  inculcation 
of  the  competitive  system  through  its  massive  religious 
and  political  machinery,  based  upon  an  unscrupulous 
ownership  alike  of  men  and  things,  by  the  ancient  law  of 
entailment  and  primogeniture.  We  do  not  find  that  the 
slave  system  was  ever  publicly  and  boldly  and  philosophi- 
cally denounced  as  an  institution.  But  it  is  certain  that 
it  was  fought  in  the  secret  unions  and  communes  until 
Jesus  daringly  came  out  in  open  discourse  against  it  and 
founded  Christianity  upon  the  new  basis  of  absolute 
equality  of  man,  which  was  essentially,  as  the  results  have 
proved,  a  revolution  or  upturning  of  the  entire  system  of 
paganism  and  its  heathenish  discrimination  between  the 
grandee  and  his  human  chattels;  and  to  him  must  be 
ascribed  the  authorship  of  the  idea  of  unconditional  eman- 
cipation. But  while  Drimakos  could  not  unscrupulously 
war  with  slavery  as  an  institution  his  course  is  exactly  in 
line  with  the  great  movement  of  his  day  which  in  other 
chapters  we  are  describing  w  in  these  arguments.  He  be- 
trays himself  in  the  foregoing  speech  to  have  been,  like 
Eunus.  a  soothsayer,  or  prophet,  or  Messiah,  such  as  the 
innumerable  sodalicia  and  thiasoi,  or  labor  unions  every- 
where possessed.15  He,  like  Spartacus,  Blossius,  Eunus, 
and  the  rest,  was  infused  with  this  strange,  everywhere- 
prevailing  idea  of  some  Messiah  coming  to  the  redemption 
of  the  poor  slave.  All  the  slave  runaways  were  supersti- 
tious, and  used  in  good  faith  and  in  harmonious  consis- 
tency with  their  creed,  this  nympholepsy  of  the  Messiah, 
long  before  the  real  Messiah  came.16 

These  conditions  of  Drimakos  were  readily  agreed  to 
by  the  Chian  capitalists,  who  were  not  in  a  condition  to 
refuse.  In  consequence,  so  soon  as  the  stipulations  were 
formally  signed  they  went  into  effect  and  the  slave-king 
for  many  years  had  only  to  send  his  troops  boldly  and 
openly  on  their  strange  marauding  adventures,  always  tak- 

14  See  chapter  xxii  and  elsewhere,  on  Trade  Unions  which  adduces  proof  that 
the  freedmen  arose  ont  of  slavery  through  their  own  efforts  and  argued  np  the 
idea  from  their  own  narrower  basis. 

"•b  Consult  Liiders,  Z>i<  ZHonytischen  K&nstler,  Foncarts,  Attodations  Iteligieiua 
for  the  Greek,  and  Mommsen.  de  Collegii  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum.  for  the  latin 
unions,  passim.  w  gee  Biicher,  Aufst.  d.  unf.  Arb.  S,  79. 


174  DRIMAKOS, 

ing  quantities  by  weight  and  measure  as  agreed  upon,  and 
always  locking  up  the  storehouses  and  granaries  when  they 
left  them.  The  result  was  a  mercy  to  the  whole  island 
which  had  been  hitherto  infested  with  robbers.  It  is  not 
stated,  but  left  to  be  inferred  from  the  sequel,  that  Dri- 
makos  drove  all  other  robbers  from  the  island;  for  we 
know  that  his  armed  force,  now  legalized,  acted  as  a  sort 
of  police  to  the  whole  personality  and  property  of  the  peo- 
ple, slaves  included.  He  adhered  with  severity  to  the  stip- 
ulation of  the  agreement  and  when  runaways  appeared  to 
him  for  protection  he  instituted  a  strict  investigation  of 
their  case ;  those  not  having  been  maltreated  being  always 
sent  back  to  their  owners.  This  of  course  had  the  effect 
to  cause  masters  to  treat  their  slaves  with  kindness  and 
never  to  overwork  or  otherwise  abuse  them,  lest  they  in- 
cur the  terrible  wrath  of  the  god-favored  umpire  seated 
on  his  throne  among  the  crags  and  eagles-nests  of  the 
mountains.  On  the  other  hand  the  would-be  runaways 
were  surer  to  reflect  cautiously  before  making  the  attempt, 
being  in  deadly  fear  at  the  just  judgment  of  the  despot 
before  whom  they  were  to  be  arraigned  for  trial  imme- 
diately after  their  suit  before  him  for  protection.  Thus 
the  revolted  slave  became  not  only  an  absolute  ruler,  king 
and  general-in-chief  of  the  slave  population,  but  also,  in 
some  respects,  a  judge  in  a  court  of  justice  with  a  stand- 
ing army  at  command  to  enforce  his  decisions — an  umpire 
over  the  whole  population,  bond  and  free. 

Years  rolled  by  and  Drimakos  felt  old  age  approaching, 
yet  did  not  flinch  from  what  he  considered  the  dignity 
and  honor  of  his  plan  of  justice.  He  remained  at  the 
helm,  punishing  or  rewarding  like  a  czar,  until  he  was  old 
and  feeble  and  weary  of  a  lengthier  existence.  He  had 
a  friend  in  the  person  of  a  young  man,  also  a  psomokolo- 
phos  or  runaway,  who  probably  deserved  this  appellative 
for  being  pliant  and  perhaps  a  little  parasitical  and  given 
to  the  recipiency  of  tit-bits  in  payment  for  flatteries  in- 
geniously brought  to  the  old  man's  ear.  He,  like  many  of 
the  other  slaves,  was  a  native  of  a  distant  land,  having 
when  very  young  been  kidnapped  or  taken  a  prisoner  of 
war,  and  as  a  victim  to  the  vicious  slave-trade,  sold  to  the 
planters  of  Chios.  He  was  one  of  those  young  fugitive 
slaves  who  had  proved  his  grievance  under  the  investiga- 


HIS  ASTONISHING    DEATH.  175 

tion,  been  accepted,  retained  and  trusted.  Drimakos 
loved  him  and  confided  in  bis  youthful  honesty. 

Meantime  the  Chians,  unsatisfied  with  what  they  re- 
garded as  their  burden,  offered  a  large  reward  in  gold  to 
whomsoever  should  bring  them  the  head  of  Drimakos. 
This  they  did  against  their  true  interests;  since  at  that  mo- 
ment while  under  the  eagle-eyed  justice  of  this  weird  old 
judge  in  the  mountain  cliffs,  their  true  interests  were  being 
more  reasonably  and  economically  subserved  than  ever  be- 
fore or  afterwards,  as  the  sequel  of  this  story  bears  record. 
Perhaps  the  old  man  in  his  peevishness  was  grieved  by 
their  ingratitude  in  offering  a  bounty  on  his  head.  At 
any  rate,  we  are  told  that  he  grew  weary  of  his  hoary 
hairs  and  enfeebling  senectitude,  and  resolved  that  the 
ungrateful  masters  should  pay  the  bounty  and  take  the 
consequences  whether  of  pleasure  or  of  regret.  In  other 
words  he  resolved  to  send  them  his  head  and  make  it 
bring  its  price  in  gold ! 

In  our  own  days  of  comparative  sympathies  and  sensi- 
bilities a  resolution  like  this  could  scarcely  emanate  from 
any  person  other  than  a  madman;  and  our  first  judgment, 
shocked  at  the  bare  conception,  is  that  no  horror  so  ap- 
palling could  have  been  devised  by  anything  saner  than 
some  icfiocracy  of  an  errant  brain.  But  2,000  years  have 
softened  the  human  mind  which,  though  yet  cruel  and 
sometimes  even  savage,  is  so  comparatively  tender  that  it 
pronely  misjudges  the  motives  and  the  drastic  will  which 
impelled  some  acts  of  our  progenitors. 

Drimakos  resolved  to  shuffle  off  his  mortal  coil.  Calling 
to  him  the  friend  whose  name  our  informants  have  not 
transmitted  to  us,  he  spoke  to  him  in  the  following  char- 
acteristic words: 

"  Boy,  I  have  brought  thee  up  nearest  to  me,  ever  with 
the  emotions  of  confidence  and  love  more  than  that  felt 
for  all  others  of  mankind.  Thou  art  child  and  son  and 
all  that  to  me  is  dear.  I  have  lived  out  my  span.  I  have 
lived  long  enough;  but  thou  art  still  young  and  hast  blood 
and  hope  and  sprightliness,  and  there  is  much  before  thee. 
Thou  shalt  become  a  good  and  brave  man. 

Son,  the  city  of  the  Chians  is  offering  to  him  that  biingeth 
them  my  head  a  sum  of  money  and  promising  him  his 
freedom.  Therefore  thy  duty  is  to  cut  off  my  head,  take 


176  DRIMAKOS. 

it  to  them,  receive  thy  reward,  return  home  to  thy  father- 
land and  be  happy." 

The  innocent  youth  at  the  thought  of  such  an  ungrate- 
ful and  sickening  atrocity,  refused  for  the  first  time  to 
obey  his  benefactor,  and  struggled  hard  to  change  the 
old  man's  determination,  but  in  vain.  Having  resolved, 
he  was  inexorable.  When  the  youth  found  him  fixed  in 
his  horrible  resolution  and  knew  by  long  acquaintance 
with  him  that  it  was  unalterable,  he  allowed  himself  to  be 
persuaded. 

The  slave-king  laid  his  head  upon  the  block  and  the 
youth  cleft  it  with  the  axe  of  the  executioner ! 

Having  buried  the  body  of  his  friend  and  patron,  the 
youth  took  the  head  to  the  city,  received  its  price,  his  free- 
dom and  an  amnesty  and  departed  for  his  home  with 
wealth  and  distinction. 

The  Chians  did  not  long  rejoice  over  their  boasted  cap- 
ture of  the  head  of  the  land-pirate.  Soon  after  he  was 
dead  the  runaway  slaves  with  whom  the  rocks  and  forests 
of  that  rugged  country  were  infested,  being  no  longer  un- 
der the  restraint  of  the  ever  vigilant  Drimakos,  returned 
to  their  wonted  habits  of  pillage  by  land  and  piracy  by 
sea.  The  Chians  were  poignantly  reminded  of  the  error 
they  had  committed  in  their  harsh  measures  against  the 
powerful  but  just  chieftain,  who,  for  many  years  had  held 
the  discontented  and  warlike  freebooters  under  control. 
The  fugitive  slaves  re-began  their  work  of  robbery  and 
devastation.  Readopting  their  former  habits  of  plunder 
based  on  revenge  as  well  as  want,  they  ceased  to  be  an  or- 
ganized body  following  a  stipulated  arrangement  like  that 
which  so  long  had  existed  between  Drimakos  and  the 
Chian  people,  and  became  a  desperate  gang  of  land  pirates 
and  outlaws. 

The  treachery  of  the  Chians  in  securing  the  removal  of 
Drimakos  thus  recoiled  upon  themselves  in  shape  of  a 
calamity.  They  remembered  the  prophetic  words  of  the 
martyred  chieftain,  that  the  gods  had  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  poor  slaves  and  were  angry  with  their  masters.  A 
feeling  remembrance,  kindling  a  high  degree  of  respect 
for  him  now  set  in,  and  both  combined  to  produce  a  ven- 
eration which  caused  them  to  erect  a  tomb  or  mausoleum 
over  his  grave,  which  the  Greeks  called  a  heroon,  and  he  be- 


A  MAUSOLEUM  TO    THE   CHIEF.  177 

came  the  object  of  hero  worship.  This  was  no  less  a  struct- 
ure than  a  temple  dedicated  to  Drimakos,  the  now  deified 
hero. 

Such  was  the  sublimity  of  the  subject  that  this  heroon 
or  temple  arose  so  splendid  and  enduring  that  its  ruins  " 
remain  to  this  day  and  have  been  the  object  of  study  by 
archaeologists  and  other  students  from  more  than  a  dozen 
points  of  view.18  The  superstitions  of  the  times  now  came 
in  play  in  the  flexible  imaginations  of  these  people.  They 
persuaded  themselves  that  they  often  saw  in  the  gloom  of 
night  the  ghost  of  Drimakos,  now  as  before  their  friend, 
as,  bony-fingered  and  spectral,  it  appeared  to  warn  the 
Chians  of  some  foul  plot  his  fellow  runaways  and  brigands 
were  concocting  against  their  lives  and  property.  And 
many  a  time  were  the  lurking  filibusters  thus  checkmated 
in  their  manosuvres,  ambuscades  and  sallies,  and  many  a 
time  defeated  in  their  bloody  designs  by  the  wan  and 
stalking  ghost  of  Drimakos.  Curiously  enough  this  super- 
stition was  mutual  between  bond  and  free;  for  the  brig- 
ands themselves  worshipped  the  manes  of  Drimakos  as 
their  hero  also;  and  always  first  brought  to  his  mausoleum 
the  richest  trophies  of  their  marauding  expeditions  before 
dispersing  to  their  caverns  with  the  rest. 

So  weird  and  romantic  does  this  tale  of  the  wild  men  of 
ancient  Scio  sound  that  we  have  hesitated  before  allowing 
it  to  contribute  its  enriching  lessons  and  charms,  lest  it 
prove  unable  to  bear  the  criticism  of  our  learned  but 
skeptic  readers.  But  when  our  eye  at  last  caught  the 
smiling  assurances  of  its  trustworthiness  from  savants  like 
Dr.  Karl  Biicher,  and  other  learned  teachers  of  philology, 
and  from  their  pen  we  obtained  the  bracing  words  that  not 
the  slightest  doubt 19  exists  as  to  the  credibility  of  the  story, 
we  ventured  to  bring  it  forth  upon  its  merits  as  another 
instance  of  labor's  hardships  and  struggles  for  existence. 

»  Consult  Stark  bei  Hermann.  S.  40.  16. 

18  See  ROBS  Travels  in  the  islands  ;  Inscriptinn  de  Scio,  No.  72. . 

"Biicher  Aufgtande  for  Unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  23.  "Mag  man  einzelne  Ziise 
dleser  Geschichte  romanhaft  flnden,  es  bietet  sich  anch  nicht  der  leisiste  Grund. 
an  ihr«r  Echtheit  zu  zweifelp,  und  selbst  wenn  die  klugen  chiischen  Kanflante 
Bie  zur  Erklarune  des  Heroons  nnd  als  Abechreckungsmittel  flir  ihre  Sclaven  er- 
fnnden  batten,  bliebe  sie  darum  weniger  ein  treues  Spiegelblld  vorhandener 
Znstande." 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

VIR1ATHUS. 

A  GREAT  REBELLION  IN  SPAIN. 


THK  Roman  Slave  System  in  Spain — Tyranny  in  Lusitania — 
Massacre  of  the  People — Condition  before  the  Outbreak — 
First  Appearance  of  Viriathus — A  Shepherd  on  his  Native 
Hills — A  Giant  in  Stature  and  Intellect — He  takes  Com- 
mand— Vetillius  Outwitted — Captured  and  Slain — Conflict 
in  Tartessus — Romans  again  Beaten — Battle  of  the  Hill  of 
Venus — Viriathus  Slaughters  another  army  and  Humiliates 
Rome — Segobria  Captured — Arrival  of  ^Emilianus — He  is 
Out-generaled  and  at  last  Beaten  by  Viriathus — More  Bat- 
tles and  Victories  for  the  Farmers — Arrival  of  Plautius 
with  Fresh  Roman  Soldiers — Viriathus  made  King — More 
Victories — Treason,  Conspiracy  and  Treachery  Lurking  in 
his  Oamps — Murdered  by  his  own  Perfidious  Officers — 
Pomp  at  His  Funeral — Relentless  Vengeance  of  the  Romans 
— Crucifixion  and  worse  Slavery  than  before — The  Cause 
Lost 


The  successful  issue  to  Home,  of  the  third  Punic  war 
by  which  Carthage,  agreeably  to  the  inveterate  apothegm 
of  Cato :  "delenda  est  Carthago,"  the  land  of  the  terrible 
Hannibal  was  chopped  to  pieces  and  its  inhabitants  butch- 
ered or  sold  into  slavery,  caused  an  enormous  amount  of 
suffering  to  the  human  race. 

Not  only  did  the  spirit  of  greed  cause  Roman  land  spec- 
ulators to  press  the  enforcement  of  the  slave  laws  which 
eeized  prisoners  and  consigned  them  to  the  most  cruel 
wholesale  bondage  in  Asia-Minor,  Italy  and  Sicily,  but  it 
extended  this  mischief,  also  into  sunny  Spain. 


ENFORCED    BONDAGE  AND   REBELLION.     179 

One  of  the  main  causes  of  the  rebellion  of  inner  emo- 
tions of  the  celebrated  Tiberius  Gracchus  against  Rome, 
goading  him  to  become  the  champion  of  a  reform  in  favor 
of  the  poor,  was  the  wretchedly  enslaved  condition  of  the 
working  people  in  all  countries  under  Roman  domination. 
Their  terrible  condition  in  Etruria  was  no  worse  than  in 
Numantia  in  Spain.  He  had  seen  the  indescribable  suffer- 
ing at  Carthage,  when  nearly  the  entire  population  were 
either  put  to  the  sword  or  sold  in  slavery,  Spain  was  on 
the  verge  of  rebellion  everywhere.  Roman  conquest  had 
but  a  few  years  before,  stricken  Epirus  a  fruitful  land 
eastward  from  Italy.  Paulus  2Ernilius  tore  from  the  farm- 
ers of  this  region  upwards  of  £2,000,000  of  their  savings 
in  gold,  and  after  the  battle  of  Pydna,  seized  no  less  than 
150,000  people  by  order  of  the  Roman  Senate.  These 
people,  nearly  all  farmers  and  other  workers,  were  dragged 
from  their  homes  and  sold  for  slaves.  Seventy  cities  were 
sacked  and  destroyed. 

Towns,  villages,  cities  on  every  side,  as  well  as  farms 
and  small  industries,  with  their  unions  and  communes, 
were  reduced  to  a  desolate  waste,  and  the  people,  wbo 
were  still  alive,  whether  suffering  under  the  lash  of  mas- 
ters in  a  foreign  land,  or  gasping  under  tyranny  at  home, 
were  burning  with  bitterness,  revengefulness,  hatred  and 
other  lurking  passions,  and  sinking  into  degeneracy,  reck- 
lessness and  poverty.1 

Such  was  also  the  miserable  status  of  affairs  in  Spain 
in  the  year  B.  C.  149,  when  our  story  of  Viriathus  begins. 
Old  Lusitania  before  the  Roman  conquests,  was  a  popu- 
lous and  enterprising  country.  There  were  associations, 
of  the  Lusitanian  laboring  people,  which  under  some  favor- 
able rules  had  existed  so  long  that  they  had  become  rich. 
Traces  of  their  enterprise  are  still  to  be  seen  in  form  of 
temples,  bridges  and  roads.  It  appears  to  have  been  in 
their  days  of  highest  glory  that  Rome,  with  a  blackening 
curse  of  human  slavery,  struck  this  beautiful,  sunny  clime 
and  its  contented,  happy  and  prosperous  people. 

Our  story  begins  with  a  perfidious  piece  of  treachery  of 
one  Servius  Sulpicius  Galba,  who  commanded  the  Roman 
army  of  invasion  in  Spain.  Like  Verres  in  Sicily,  Galba 

'  '  lutarch,  Paulut  j&niUui;  Livy,  XL.  25-28;  Wallace,  Numbert  of  Mankind. 


180  VIKIATHUS. 

seemed  to  have  no  moral  respect  for  humanity.  He 
worked  his  plans  to  secure  the  confidence  of  these  people 
and  when  the  opportunity  arrived,  perfidiously  murdered 
them  in  great  numbers,  seized  and  dragged  others  into 
slavery  and  robbed  their  country  of  its  gold  with  which 
he  afterwards,  in  spite  of  old  Cato's  efforts  to  have  him 
punished,  bought  himself  free  from  the  sentence  of  the 
law  at  Home.  Soon  after  these  outrages  of  Galba,  Rome 
withdrew  many  of  the  soldiers  from  Spain  and  the  peo- 
ple rallied  with  greater  determination  than  ever,  to  re- 
trieve their  losses.  They  were  mostly  farmers  and  me- 
chanics, and  men  of  strong,  well  established  principles. 

Among  those  who  had  the  fortune  to  escape  from  the 
last  massacre  of  Galba  was  a  young  man  named  Viriathus. 
He  is  represented  by  Diodorus  as  almost  a  giant  in  stat- 
ure "  and  a  person  born  to  command,  He  was  endowed 
by  nature  with  the  rare  faculties  of  honor  and  truthful- 
ness, while  at  the  same  time  leading  the  life  of  a  hunter,  a 
shepherd  and  finally  of  a  border  warrior  in  defense  of 
himself  and  his  kindred.  An  excellent  description  of 
Viriathus  is  left  us  by  Diodorus  in  a  short  fragment  of 
his  histories  which  have  been  fortunately  preserved.  This 
fragment,  while  it  represents  him  to  have  been  a  robber, 
extols  at  the  same  breath  his  honor  for  distributing  the 
plunder  among  his  men.*  Livy  speaks  of  him  as  a  man  of 
warlike  qualifications,  having  had  experience  as  a  moun- 
taineer.4 

The  charge  against  him,  of  being  a  lawless  bandit  is  no 
longer  maintained  by  authors,  since  the  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  careered,  show  of  themselves,  that  he  did 

*  Diodorns,  Bibliotheca Hiftorica,  lib.  XXXIII.  Eclog.  V.  otfragmenta:    "  Ow- 
ptari^o*   icvp>j<rai>Tes,   fieyaAo  'Pcofiaiovs  €0Aa«J<ai'.  $v  niv  ovv  OI/TOS  riav  irapa   TO» 
uKtavbv  oiicovvTiav  \v<r  iraviav,    McjMLfpMP   etc  TraiSbs,   opeiaj    £ia>   Kalian)   crvvri&rft, 
a-vvepybv  t\tav  <ca!  Tr)!/  TOU  crw/aaTO*  fyvaw  *cai  yap  pti/ujj,  icoi  ra^ei,  Tjai  rfj  riav  Aoiiriii/ 
(tfpiav  cvKiPi|<rift  iroAu  Sirjfeyice  riav'  Ifiypiav.     <rvvei'^i<re  Se  avrov  rpo<j>jj  ftiv  oAi'yij, 
•yvui'ao-i'ois  Si  iroAAoif   XP')<rt^al>  lca'    vnvto   fi<XPl   V-nvou  roO   ava.yKO.iov-    icai^dAov  Si 
<ri6i}po<^opa»'  (ruvcyiis,  icai  Ajj<7Tais«is  ayvivas  Kat^t<rTd^<i/o;,  rrepi/3o7)Tot  eycvero  irapa 
TOIS  )rA>jiJ«<ri,  «tai  Tj-ye/nui/  aiirot?  TJpeiH),  icai  Tax«  <ru<TTT7fi.a  irepi  cayrov  AJJO-TUV ^i>poi<re. 
xal  vpOKomiav  iv  rolf  iroAe^oct,  ov  iiovov  idavn<urrti>dii  Si  aAx7)>>,  aAAa  icai  (rrpari)- 
ytiv  tSo^e  SiaubcpovTias." 

*  Idem,  Excerpt  de  Virt.  et  Vit.  pag.  591:    "'On  Ovipt'oTdos  o  Ap'o-Topxos  • 
Avcriravos  icat  Jixato?  Jfv  iv  rais  Siavovals  riov  \a<f>vpiai>,  icai  KO.T'  afiav  Ti/JtStv  rovt 
a.v&pa.ya.itriaa.vTa.s  cfaiperott  Siupott,  «ri  Si  ovSiv  airAuf   en  rtaf  xoiviav  I'oa^x.fofifvo';. 
Jib    icat   crvv(fia.ivt   TOUS    \vcrira.voi>s   n-potJv/noTaTa  trvyKivSvvtvtiv   auroi,   Ti/iiivTat 
olovei  TIKI  KOIVOV  tvtpyerrjv  icai  aiarr/pa-" 

*  Livy,  Epitam,  offfiitoriarum,  Libri,  LII.     "  Viriathns  in  Hispania  primum 
ex  pastore  venator,  ex  venatpre  latro,  mox  jnsti  quoqae  exercitus  dux  factus. 
totiitn  Lusitaniam  occupavit." 


MASSACRES  OF  GALBA.  181 

nothing  which  any  patriot  would  not  be  bound  to  do  in 
defense  of  home,  family  and  friends.  What  the  ancient 
authors  seem  to  be  prejudiced  against  him  for,  is  the  fact 
that,  like  Athenion  and  Spartacus,  he  was  poor  and  that 
he  belonged  to  the  lowly  and  strictly  laboring  class.  But 
even  with  the  excusable  charge  against  him  that  he  was 
a  robber,  we  find  very  few  who  do  not  speak  highly  of  him 
as  a  great  leader  and  a  man  of  uncommon  justice. 

The  only  thing  Galba  and  Lucullus  seem  to  have  been 
able  to  think  of,  when  sent  from  Rome  into  Spain,  was  to 
plunder  at  an  unlimited  cost  of  suffering  and  blood.  Cheat- 
ing, deceiving,  working  deeds  of  treachery  against  the 
people  and  amassing  gold  was  their  single  object;  and  to 
get  the  gold  from  Spain  and  carry  it  as  their  own  per- 
sonal property  to  Rome,  was  their  bent  and  determina- 
tion.5 

Among  the  few  Lusitanians  who  escaped  from  the  last 
massacre  of  Galba, was  Viriathus.  He  adroitly  forewarned 
himself  and  a  few  friends,  of  a  treacherous  plot,  just  at 
the  moment  of  its  consummation  and  with  difficulty  extri- 
cated himself,  although  great  numbers  of  innocent  people 
were  murdered  or  enslaved.  His  opportunity  was  now 
at  hand,  and  he  informed  the  shattered  remnant  of  the 
band,  of  which  it  appears  he  was  at  the  time,  little  above 
the  rank  and  file,  that  if  they  would  entrust  the  future 
command  of  their  forces  to  him,  he  would  lea*d  them  out 
in  safety.  In  a  speech  he  told  them  that  they  were  too 
confiding;  that  the  Romans  were  utterly  devoid  of  all  in- 
stincts of  truthfulness  or  honor,  and  that  the  only  tactics 
in  future  to  be  pursued  must  be  based  upon  the  idea  of 
treating  them  as  enemies;  that  whatever  the  hypocritical 
pretence  of  either  the  Roman  senate,  or  its  inhuman  emis- 
saries that  Spain  was  in  need  of  protection,  the  truth  at 
the  bottom  was,  that  Rome  wanted  the  whole  of  this  fair 
and  fruitful  land,  its  productive  mines,  its  waving  grain 
fields,  its  fisheries,  timber  forests  and  gems,  for  her  great 

6  Appian,  Iberia,  60;  Livy,  Epitome.  XLIX.  remarks  that  Cato  was  stern 
enough  to  have  Galba  punished  but  the  trial  came  to  naught;  the  infamous 
triitor  had  too  much  gold  at  command :  "  Qjium  L.  Scribonius  tribunus  plebis 
rogatiqnem  promnlgHi-set,  ut  Lusitani,  qui,  in  fldempopuli  Komani  dediti,  a  Ser. 
Galba  in  Galliam  venissent,  in  libertatem  restituerentur,  M.  Cato  acerrime  stia- 
Bii.  Exstat  oratio  in  Anualibus  fins  inclnsa.  Q.  Fulvius  Nobilior,  et  saepe  ab 
eo  in  senatu  lac*ratus.  respondit  pro  Galba.  Ipse  quoque  Galba,  qiinm  se  dam- 
uari  viderit,  complexus  duos  fllios  praetextatos,  et  Sulpicii  Galli  filiuin,  cuius 
tutor  erat,  ita  miserabiliter  pro  Be  locctus  est,  ut  ragatio  antiqnaretur." 


182  VIRIATHUS. 

lords;  and  she  only  wanted  these  inestimable  resources 
worked  for  such  arrogant  darlings  of  her  aristocracy,  not 
by  free  labor  bat  by  that  of  slaves,  subjugated  through 
plots  and  systematized  perfidy.  Give  me,  said  Viriathus, 
the  unlimited  command  of  your  brave  warriors  and  I  will 
rid  the  land  of  our  fathers  of  these  mortal  foes. 

The  speech  won  the  distinguished  sympathy  of  the 
governors.  The  tall  mountaineer  received  the  full  com- 
mand of  the  army;  and  now  begins  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable series  of  successes,  wrought  amid  difficulties, 
cruelties  and  transient  triumphs,  to  be  found  in  the  his- 
tory of  Rome.  These  extraordinary  contests  lasted,  ac- 
cording to  various  authors  from  eight  to  twenty  years.6 

After  the  departure  to  Rome  of  Galba  and  Lucullus, 
with  their  gold,  a  praetor  or  governor,  named  Gaius  Vet- 
ilius  was  entrusted  by  the  Romans,  with  the  care  of  the 
Spanish  possessions;  and  Viriathus  thus  left  the  flocks 
under  his  care  in  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  his  home 
to  take  permanent  charge  of  the  broken  and  disheartened 
army  which  had  regained  some  spirit,  however,  on  account 
of  the  evacuation  of  their  territory  by  Galba,  and  began, 
inarching  down  into  the  fertile  valleys  of  Turdetania. 

Vetilius  met  them  promptly,  and  before  the  new  com- 
mander could  organize  his  troops,  or  perhaps  before  he 
really  got  command,  gained  a  victory,  driving  them  back 
and  forced  them  to  agree  to,  and  almost  conclude  an  un- 
conditional .surrender.  This  was  perhaps  the  auspicious 

•  We  here  give  the  several  authorities  for  the  duration  of  these  wars,  from 


'  Pw/j.aioi9  xai  iucrfpyoTaroi'  avroif  ytvoiievov,  avva.ya.ytLV,  afa^eiitvov  el  Tl  rov  avrou 
\povov  Trepi  'Iftripiav  aAAo  fyiyvcro.'' 

Llvy,  Hutoriarum,  Liber,  LII.  Epitom.  "  C.  Vetilium  praetorem,  fnso  eius 
cxercitu,  cepit :  post  quem  C .  Plautina  praetor  nihilo  felicius  rem  gessit :  tan- 
tumque  terroris  is  hostis  intulit,  ut  adversus  eum  consular!  opus  esset  et  duce, 
et  exercitu."  This  mention  is  found  by  a  careful  study  of  the  different  com- 
mands, to  make  the  iuration  to  have  been  about  14  years. 

Justin,  XLIV.  2,  says  10  years;  while  Diordorns  makes  it  to  appear  about 
11  years,  and  Orosius,  Histories  Adversus  faganot,  V.  4,  about  8  to  10  years. 

Eutrope,  Bre.vio.rium,  Rerum  Romanorum.  IV.  16,  evidently  takes  his  state- 
ment from  Livy ;  for  aside  from  putting  the  wars  of  Virathus  at  14  years,  he 
uses  almost  the  same  language  in  describing  the  man  :  "Quo  meta  Viriathus  a. 
suis  interfectus  eat,  cum  quatuordecim  annis  Hispanias  adversum  Romanes  mo. 
visset.  Pastor  primo  fuit,  mox  latronum  dux,  postremo  tantos  ad  bellum  popu- 
loe  concitavit,  ut  assertor  contra  Romanes  Hispaniae  putaretur.'1 

Vallejus  Paterculus,  Bremarium  Historic  Romance,  lib.  II.  cap.  90.  declares 
the  duration  of  the  wars  with  Viriathus  to  have  been  20  years  and  undoubtedly 
ilouinisen  in  patting  it  at  8  with  Appian,  is  entirely  wrong. 


A  TRIUMPHANT  RETREAT.  183 

moment  at  which  Viriathus  first  showed  himself  and  made 
his  speech,  as  we  have  just  recounted. 

This  hardy  Spaniard,  on  getting  the  reins  firmly  into 
his  hands,  introduced  a  method  of  tactics  little  understood 
or  anticipated  by  the  Romans.  He  made  an  unexpected 
revolt  against  the  stipulations  of  capitulation  then  being 
drawn  up,  accompanying  the  same  with  a  dash  of  his 
troops,  and  by  a  series  of  twists  and  turns  in  which  the 
swiftest  of  the  Spanish  cavalry  were  brought  into  play, 
succeeded  in  extricating  the  little  army  so  entirely  from 
the  grasp  of  Vetilius  that  he  effected  a  retreat  into  a  rocky 
woodland,  and  there  safely  spent  the  night  in  rest  and 
needed  refreshment,  and  the  following  day  in  religious 
purifications  according  to  the  Spanish  creed.7  The  flight, 
according  to  Appian,  and  others,  was  accomplished  by 
dividing  the  army  into  several  parts,  each  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  trusted  leader,  with  orders  to  reunite  at  a  given 
point,  and  with  1,000  horses  under  his  own  command  he 
covered  their  retreat,  first  galloping  to  the  rescue  of  one 
and  then  the  other.  In  this  manner  they  all  reached  Tri- 
bola  in  safety,  after  holding  their  pursuers  in  check  for 
two  days  by  means  of  various  expedients  of  consummate 
ingenuity  in  which  he  took  advantage  of  the  wild  and 
rugged  shape  of  the  land.8 

All  this  time  he  was  marching  southward  toward  the 
strait  of  Gades,  to  the  ancient  Carteia.  Vetilius  could  illy 
brook  the  escape  of  his  game  which  so  short  a  time  be- 
fore he  believed  to  be  in  his  hand.  He  made  a  desperate 
effori  to  frustrate  the  splendid  retreat  of  the  Spanish  army, 
but  Viriathus  decoyed  him  into  an  ambush  at  the  foot  of 
the  Hill  of  Venus  where  a  celebrated  battle  was  fought, 
which  Appian  and  others  graphically  describe.9 

It  was  a  deep  gorge,  thick-set  with  briars,  rocks,  forest 
trees  and  other  obstructions,  which  puzzled  the  best  army 

"  Appian,  Historia  Romana,  Hispania,  62 ;  Frontin,  Stralegematon.  lib.  HI,  xi. 
§  4  ;  "  Viriathu?,  cam  tridai  iter  discedens  confecisset,  idem  illnd  nno  die  remen- 
BUB  secures  Se^obrigenses  et  sacrificio  cum  maxirne  occupatos  opp_ressit." 

8  Appian,  62,  '20-25,  of  Mendelsohn :  ''  '{)<;  S'  el/too-ev  acr<i>a\ias  « x"''  T'i*  <i>vyris 

TOUS  trepous,  rore  VVKT'OS  6pfiij<ra?  SC  o&tov  arptftiav  Kov^oraroif  imrois  aireSpaiJLfi'  tf 
Tpi(3oAa>>,  'Pufiat'uf  avrvv  SiioKeic  6/xotuf  ov  Swafievtav  iia  Tf  j3apo?  oirAuv  xai 
aireipt'ai'  b&w  KGU  'iirirtvv  afO^LOi6r>]Ta'" 

9  Consult  also  Dion  Cassins,  Sistorue,  LXXVJII.  p.  33,  Wess. ;  Frontin. 
Strategematon,  lib.  III.  cap.  10,  refers  to  this  as  one  of  the  great  strokes  of  strate- 
gem :  "  Viriathus  disposito  per  occulta  milite  pancos  misit,  qni  abigerent  pecora 
Segobrigensinm :  ad  quae  illi  vindicandu  cnm'frequeutes  procurrUsent  simulan- 
teeque  fugam  praedatores  persequerentur,  deducti  in  insidiaa  caesique  sunt." 


184  VIRIATHUS. 

unaccustomed  to  mountain  life  but  which  least  tormented 
a  man  like  Viriathus,  whose  life  had  been  that  of  a  hunter 
and  shepherd  among  glens  and  precipices.10  It  was  about 
the  time  when  Viriathus,  after  his  three  days  retreat,  was 
entering  the  town  of  Tribola,  that  Vetilius  and  his  men 
made  a  desperate  effort  to  seize  him.  Some  of  the  Span- 
ish detachments  were  out  reconnoitring  when  they  were 
set  upon  by  a  heavy  body  of  Romans  in  the  ledge,  and 
after  many  hours  of  severe  fighting  the  Romans  lost  their 
general  and  gave  way  with  a  loss  in  killed  of  about  5,000 
soldiers — a  half  of  their  entire  force.  It  was  soon  after- 
wards discovered  that  Vetilius  had  met  one  of  the  hardy 
mountaineers,  and  in  a  hand  to  hand  encounter  had  been 
taken  prisoner  by  him.11  Most  writers  agree  that  the 
Roman  general  was  mortally  wounded  in  this  encounter. 
It  was  a  great  and  bloody  victory. 

Immediately  after  the  triumph  of  Viriathus  at  the  Hill 
of  Venus,  an  immense  number  of  slaves  and  free  tramps 
whose  condition  was  worse  than  that  of  slaves,  came  into 
the  camp  from  all  quarters,  to  offer  themselves  as  soldiers; 
and  although  we  do  not  find  much  in  the  fragments  of 
history  left  us  on  this  rebellion,  yet  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that  a  very  large  army  was  called  into  being;  and  this  was 
probably  the  prime  secret  of  the  continued  train  of  suc- 
cesses attending  the  career  of  the  insurgents. 

There  was  another  army  in  Spain,  subject  to  Rome,  con- 
sisting of  Spanish  militia  and  mercenaries,  or  perhaps 
freedmen  who  had  been  impressed  into  the  Roman  ser- 
vice. These,  5,000  strong,  on  the  arrival  of  the  news  of 
the  disaster  to  Vetilius,  struck  out  in  a  rapid  march  from 
their  quarters  on  the  river  Ebro. 

The  eye  of  Viriathus  was  however  on  the  lookout  for 
them.  He  marched  a  large  force  to  waylay,  and  prevent 
them  from  joining  the  enemy  who  had  by  this  time  so 
far  recovered  as  to  show  an  army  of  16,000  men,  now 
marching  toward  Gades  the  old  Tartesssus.  He  met  them 
at  some  convenient  place  and  in  a  second  battle  destroyed 
them  so  completely  that  nothing  was  left  of  the  force 

10  Diodorus,  Bibliotheca  Histarica,  XXXIII,  Eclog.  V.     "  Zweidiirt  Se  avrov 
Tpo<J>n  iJ.ff  oAiyj),  yu/iKMTc'ots  Se  iroAAois  xpytrdii,  KO.L  vwvif  fiovov  avayxaiov     <cat?6Aov 
£e  (nSripo4>opu}V  wve^iat,  Ka.1  #T)pi'ois  icai  Ajjarais  «is   aywi-as  <cai>i<7Ta|iiei'os,  Trfpifioif 
TOf  iyevfro  irapa.  TOIS   irA>j#«a'i>  Kai   rjyefiuiv    OVTOIS   fl'pei^T),  <cai   ra.\ii  av<m\^.a.   Trepl 
favTov  yfjffrtav  >J$poi<r€." 

11  AppiftD,  Historia  Romano,  idem,  63. 


BATTLE  OF  THE  HILL   OF  VENUS.        185 

worthy  of  being  henceforth  considered  an  auxiliary  to  the 
Romans. 

All  these  manoeuvres,  victories,  and  vicissitudes  occu- 
pied the  year ;  and  by  the  time  the  Romans  were  snugly 
fortifying  themselves  in  Tartessus,  news  of  the  defeat 
of  the  armies  and  death  of  the  governor  arrived  at  Rome. 
Gaius  Plautius  was  dispatched  to  the  scene  with  a  large 
reinforcement  of  13,000  men,  consisting  of  10,000  foot 
and  3,000  horse. 

But  in  the  meantime,  Viriathus  was  realizing  his  high- 
est glory  socially  and  politically,  among  his  own  people. 
He  redeemed  from  its  bondage,  and  reoccupied,  the  whole 
province  of  Karpetania;  and  large  as  the  Roman  army  was, 
they  dared  not  make  an  attempt  against  him.  He  was 
made  a  king  and  given  powers  and  position  which  be- 
came princely  but  not  magnificent ;  for  he  refused  to  ac- 
cept anything  but  his  wonted  frugal  fare.  Ho  only  claimed 
to  be  an  honest  shepherd  and  workingman.  They  mar- 
ried him  to  a  lady  of  high  estate  and  wealth  but  all  he 
would  accept  was  herself,  leaving  to  those  who  were  flat- 
tered by  gew-gaws,  the  shallow  pleasures  of  jewels  and 
gold.  His  only  ambition  was  to  divert  his  natural  gifts 
from  a  profession  of  intrinsic  value  in  the  field  of  labor, 
to  that  of  the  military  camp,  until  he  should  redeem  his 
people  from  slavery  and  danger  into  which  they  had  been 
forced  by  the  Roman  conquests.  He  was  witty  and  bright, 
and  he  surpassed  his  fellows  in  physical  stature.  An  in- 
defatigable worker,  he  always  slept  in  full  armor  and 
fought  in  the  front  ranks;  and  even  at  the  moment  of 
highest  triumph  ever  refused  to  indulge  in  intemperance 
of  any  kind.12 

After  the  arrival  of  Plautius,  as  praetor  or  governor  from 
Rome,  with  the  large  force  of  13,000  men,  as  we  have 
mentioned,  and  time  had  been  taken  to  reorganize  the 
broken  remnants  stated  by  Appian  to  number  16,000  men, 
an  expedition  was  arranged  to  bring  the  daring  revolter  to 
punishment.  But  in  the  first  dash,  Viriathus  attacked  his 
detachment  of  4,000  and  almost  exterminated  them.  In  a 
succession  of  engagements  and  strategems  Plautius  was  so 

is  Dion  Cassius,  Histories,  LXXVIII.  So  also.  Diodorus,  BibHOieca  Ramana 
lib,  XXXIII.  fra^menta.  All  such  excellent  points  of  character  of  tiie  great  Lu- 
sitanian  Chieftain  are  mentioned  by  these  ancient  authors;  consult  also  Bekker, 
l'iri4i/i>M  untl  </!»  Luiitaner. 


186  VIRIATHUS. 

completely  hacked  to  pieces  that  he  retired  in  midsummer 
into  winter  quarters,  at  a  sate  distance  from  the  now  dreaded 
Spaniard.  This  disaster  to  the  Roman  praetor  was  so  com- 
plete that  he  never  recovered  from  it,  and  was  afterwards 
driven  into  exile  and  disgrace. 

The  next  general  sent  out  from  Borne  against  Viriathus 
was  the  son  of  Paulus  .33milius,  who  a  few  years  before  had 
dragged  into  slavery  150,000  people,  after  the  battle  of 
Pydna,  in  Epirus.  His  full  name  was  Quintus  Fabius  Max- 
imus  .ZEmilianus.  He  brought  with  him  an  army  of  15,000 
foot  soldiers  and  a  cavalry  force  of  2,000,  which  added  to 
those  already  in  Spain  but  now  in  a  demoralized  condition 
must  have  aggregated  a  force  of  little  less  than  50,000. ia 
Fabius  Maximus  pitched  his  camp  at  Orsona,  not  far  from 
where  the  city  of  Seville  now  stands,  and  remained  there 
until  the  next  year,  closely  watched  by  Viriathus. 

This  Roman  governor  seems  to  have  left  the  command  to  a 
person  less  capable  than  himself  whose  name  was  Quinctius; 
for  the  Spaniard  lured  him  into  some  conflict  which  seems- 
to  have  been  deadly.  Appian  is  not  clear  as  to  what  it 
was,  but  speaks  of  the  shrewd  manoeuvres  of  Viriathus,  and 
of  a  battle,  the  results  of  which  were  the  loss  of  many,  by 
hard  fighting.  The  inference  is,  that  both  .ZEmilianus  and 
Quinctius  were  defeated  and  destroyed  ;  for  we  next  hear 
of  the  arrival  from  Rome,  of  another  general,  Quintus  Ser- 
vilianus,  a  near  relative  of  the  same  JEmilius  Paulus. 

This  general  brought  with  him  two  whole  legions  and  ten 
elephants  from  Utica,  a  town  northward  from  Carthage  in 
Africa.  This  new  force,  in  addition  to  the  elephants,  con- 
sisted of  18,000  foot  and  1,600  horse.14  Servilianus  had  lit- 
tle difficulty  in  marching  with  this  army  through  several  of 
the  districts  which  had  been  reconquered  by  Viriathus.  He 
took  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion,  and  had  at  one 
time  as  many  as  500  killed  for  taking  part  in  the  revolt. 
Great  numbers  were  sold  into  slavery.  Those  caught,  who 
were  found  to  have  turned  against  the  Romans,  were 
cruelly  treated  by  having  their  hauds  cut  off. 

M  Appian,  Historia  Romana,  Iberia,  65  :  "  Kai  irapa  rav  <rvfifj.ax<av  o-rparbr 
aAAop  airijaaf,  Jjxef  es  'Opcrwi/a  TTJS  'IjSrjptaf  av/tjrairav  i\<av  Trt^'ov?  fivpiovs  icai 
jroToucurxiAiovs  Kai  iirirc'ac  «s  Si<rxiAiovs." 

n  Appian,  Historic  Romana,  idem,  67  ;  "'Arravros  «  ftvpt'ous  Kai  oKTOKicrxiAi- 
ovs  TTf*rws  Kai  tirire'af  efaxocrious  cirl  xiAi'ois-  e7rt<rrciAaf  <5i  Kai  MiKei^ft  TUJ  NofiaOcoK 
/3a<TiAn  Trefr'-ai  oi  rd^Kfra.  (Ac4>aiTavf  if  'ITVKKTIV  rfirfiytro,  rrtv  afpanav  ayui/  xara 


ASSASSINATED    BY  HIS    OWN  MEN.        1ST 

At  length  Viriathus,  who  was  watching  his  opportunity, 
caught  the  old  Roman  at  the  siege  of  the  town  of  Erisane, 
and  after  a  severe  contest  defeated  him.  Driven  to  a  rocky 
ledge  in  an  angle  from  which  it  was  impossible  to  escape,  the 
victorious  Spaniards  bad  him  completely  in  their  power. 

Here,  at  the  zenith  of  a  long  list  of  hrilliant  successes, 
virtually  closes  the  glory  of  Viriathus.  He  was  so  foolish 
as  to  let  his  sympathies  get  the  better  of  his  judgment. 

So  complete  was  this  victory  over  Servilianus  that  he  was 
glad  to  treat  on  any  terms;  and  the  surprising  sequel  is,  that 
the  terms  offered  by  Viriathus  and  accepted  at  Rome  were 
so  mild.  The  Spaniard  was  to  be  acknowledged  king  over 
his  native  country  of  Lusitania,  and  henceforward  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  brother  or  ally  to  the  Romans ! 

Of  course  this  furnished  Rome  another  period  of  time  to 
recuperate  and  concoct  new  schemes  of  treachery.  This 
she  did,  by  sending  the  perfidious  Csepio  to  take  the  place 
of  Servilianus,  aud  he  was  not  long  in  bribing  the  friends 
of  Viriathus  to  turn  against  their  long  trusted  master  and 
murder  him  in  his  sleep. 

An  enormous,  far-sounding  wake  accompanied  by  gladia- 
torial orgies  of  shocking  ferocity,  was  held  over  his  remains. 
The  date  of  this  great  revolt  in  Spain  is  fixed  at  149  years 
before  Christ.  This  disgraceful  triumph  of  Caepio  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  enslavement  of  innumerable  peasants,  traders 
and  working  people,  and  the  end  was  worse  than  the  be- 
ginning. 

If  we  are  to  believe  Vellejus  Paterculus,  the  great  wars 
of  Viriathus  against  the  Roman  slave  trade — for  it  was 
nothing  less — lasted  about  20  years ;  and  taking  all  things 
into  consideration,  it  could  not  have  been  a  shorter  time, 
although  belittled  by  the  historians.  Mommsen  is  anx- 
ious to  make  it  appear  but  8  years,  agreeing  with  Appian. 
In  the  account  of  Spartacus,  written  by  Vellejus,  we  found 
this  historian's  statement  as  to  the  great  numbers  of  that 
general's  men,  to  perfectly  agree  with  the  circumstances 
in  the  case,  although  it  throws  a  flood  of  light,  clearing  up 
and  making  perfectly  reasonable,  the  details  of  that  great 
war ;  and  showing  it  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  pro- 
digious conflicts  ever  known.  Yet  great  efforts  seem  to- 
have  been  made  to  suppress  the  history  of  Spartacus,  and 
modern  authors  appear  surprisingly  anxious  to  perpet- 
uate the  suppression  of  it. 


188  VIRIATHUS. 

The  whole  matter  of  Viriathus  bears  the  appearance 
of  having  been  caused  by  a  wholesale  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  Roman  gens  or  lords,  to  reduce  Spain  to  slavery,  to 
choke  her  liberty-loving  people  down  to  chains,  dungeons 
and  unpaid,  enforced  labor,  turn  her  fruitful  lands  into 
slave-worked  plantations  and  stock-farms  latifundia,  as  in 
Sicily,  and  thus  build  up  an  arrogant  landed  aristocracy. 
The  immense  and  long-continued  resistance  of  this  hum- 
ble working  man  held  that  powerful  race  of  optimates  in 
check ;  and  it  may  be  one  of  the  principal  reasons  of  their 
having  never  succeeded  in  brutalizing  the  Spaniards  as 
they  did  the  people  of  Sicily. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EUNUS. 

GRIEVANCES.    MORE   SALVATION  ON 
THE   VINDICTIVE  PLAN. 

THE  IRASCIBLE  IMPULSE  in  its  Highest  Development  and  most 
enormous  Organization — Greatest  of  all  Strikes  found  on  Rec- 
ord— Gigantic  Growth  of  Slavery — General  View  of  Sicilian 
Landlordism  and  Servitude  before  the  Outbreak — Great  In- 
crease of  Bondsmen  and  Women — Enna,  Home  of  the  God- 
dess Ceres,  becomes  the  Stronghold  of  the  Great  Uprising — 
Eunus;  his  Pedigree — He  is  made  King  of  the  Slaves — Story 
of  his  10  Years'  Reign — Somebody,  ashamed  to  confess  it, 
has  mangled  the  Histories — The  Fragments  of  Diodorus  and 
other  Noble  Authors  Reveal  the  Facts — Cruelties  of  Damo- 
philus  and  Megallis,  the  immediate  Cause  of  the  Grievance — 
Eunus,  Slave,  Fire-spitter,  Leader,  Messiah,  King — Venge- 
ance— The  innocent  Daughter — Sympathy  hand-in-hand  with 
Irascibility  against  Avarice — Wise  Selection  by  Eunus,  of 
Achseus  as  Lieutenant — Council  of  War — Mass-meeting — A 
Plan  agreed  to — Cruelty  of  the  Slaves— Their  Army — The 
War  begun — Prisons  broken  open  and  60,000  Convicts  work- 
ing in  the  Ergastula  set  free — Quotations — Sweeping  Extinc- 
tion of  the  Rich — Large  Numbers  of  Free  Tramps  join — An- 
other prodigious  Uprising  in  Southern  Sicily — Cleon — Con- 
jectures regarding  this  Obscure  Military  Genius — Union  of 
Eunus,  Achfeus  and  Cleon — Harmony — Victories  over  the 
Romans — Insurgent  Force  rises  to  200,000  Men — Proof — 
Overthrow  and  Extinction  of  the  Armies  of  Hypsseus — Mau- 
lius — Lentulus — The  Victorious  Workingmen  give  no  Quarter 
— Eunus  as  Mimic,  taunts  his  Enemies  by  Mock  Theatrical, 
Open- Air  Plays  in  the  Sieges — Cities  fall  into  his  Hands — 
His  Speeches — Moral  Aid  through  the  Social  Struggle  with 


192  EUNUS. 

Gracchus  at  Rome — Arrival  of  a  Roman  Army  under  Piso — 
Beginning  of  Reverses — Crucifixions — Demoralization — Fall 
of  Messana — Siege  of  Enna — Inscriptions  verifying  History 
— Romans  Repulsed — Arrival  of  Rupilius — Siege  of  Tauroma- 
m'on — Wonderful  Death  of  Comanus — Cannibalism — The 
City  falls — Awful  Crucifixions — Second  Siege  of  Enna — Its 
20,000  People  are  crucified  OQ  the  G-ibbet — Eunus  captured 
and  Devoured  by  Lice  in  a  Roman  Dungeon — Disastrous 
End  of  the  Rebellion  or  so-called  Servile  War. 

THE  enornous  growth  of  slavery  just  before  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  era  was  the  cause  of  several  of  the 
most  gigantic  and  bloody  uprisings  the  world  has  ever 
known.  Those  convulsive  episodes  invariably  arose  from, 
maltreatment  of  workingmen  and  women.  Dr.  Bticher, 
whose  delineations  we  so  often  <jCiote,  shows  that  the 
necessary  workmen  for  supplying  slave  material  to  man 
the  great  estates  which  the  Roman  lords,  about  this  time 
were  grasping  from  the  original  cultivators  who  farmed 
the  government  land  on  shares  thus  turning  them  out  of 
house  and  home,  were  bought  and  sold  as  common  goods 
at  ridiculously  low  prices. 1 

In  B.  C.  103  there  were  at  Rome  scarcely  2,000  persons 
owning  property  considered  taxable,  such  was  the  enor- 
mous monopoly  of  the  public  lands  and  of  other  property 
by  a  few. a  These  few  property  owners  were  proportion- 
ally richer  and  their  management  of  the  army  and  of  the 
legislature,  for  suppressing  uprisings  of  the  outcasts  and 
the  enslaved  proletaries  was  so  mxich  the  more  unlimited. 
The  freedmen  who  had  many  organizations  for  protection 
which  for  centuries  they  had  enjoyed  when  slaves  were 
comparatively  few,  now  found  their  unions,  their  busi- 
ness, their  homes  and  freedom  undermined  and  supplanted 
by  countless  hordes  of  slaves  as  prisoners  of  war,  victims 
of  the  prodigious  slave  trade  going  on  between  Rome  and 
foreign  markets.  When  Tarentem  was  captured,  B.  C.  209, 
there  were  sold  30,000  war  prisoners. 3  In  B.  C.  207,  af- 

iB'icher,  Aufstdnde  der  vnfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  85-86;  "Tit.  LlV.  XLI.  28: 
Sen  pronii  Gracchi  consulis  imperio  auspicioque  legio  exerciiusqne  populi 
Roivani  Sardtniam  subegit.  In  ea  provincia  hostlum  crosa  aut  capta  supra 
octoginta  milia."  We  elsewhere  quote  in  our  copious  footnotes  the  sources- 
whence  modern  authors  derive  the'r  figures. 

*  Strabo  Geograpkica,  xiv.  668;    Apulejus,    IX. 


THE  ANCIENT  SLAVE   CENSUS.  193 

ter  the  battle  of  Metaiirus,  5,400  were  captured  and  sold. 
In  B.  C.  200  at  least  15,000  were  siezed  and  sold.  In  B.  C. 
137,  the  event  of  the  return  of  Tiberius  Gracchus  from 
Sardinia,  the  fact  that  80,000  men,  women  and  children 
had  been  either  killed  or  sold  into  perpetual  slavery,  was 
brought  to  light.  Because  Gracchus,  whose  grand  nature, 
though  a  military  commander,  revolted  against  such  atroc- 
ities and  sought  reform,  he  was  set  upon  by  a  mob  of  in- 
Juriated  legislators  and  wealth-owners,  and  murdered  in 
1he  streets  of  Rome.  Such  was  the  enormous  mass  of  the 
Sardinian  slaves  that  prices  fell  to  a  ridiculously  low  ebb 
becoming  a  laughing  stock  and  the  proverb  got  abroad : 
"cheap  as  a  Sardinian."  After  the  siege  of  Perseus  there 
were  70  cities  destroyed  and  150,000  people  sold  at  the 
different  slave  markets. 4 

This  fearful  condition  of  human  slavery  set  into  Greece 
still  earlier.  By  a  similar  monopoly  of  land  and  of  other 
property  by  the  few,  it  came  to  pass  that  in  the  great  city 
of  Athens  of  515,000  souls,  only  9,000  (B.  C.  300)  could  be 
allowed  political  rights  graded  and  franchised  by  family 
and  property. 5  Other  mention  puts  it  at  21,000  souls  or 
citizens. 6  At  the  same  time,  when  there  were  21,000  prop- 
ertied or  blooded  citizens  and  10,000  strangers  under  pro- 
tection of  the  city,  there  were  400,000  slaves. 7  But  as 
Athens  at  that  time  (B.  C.  309,)  counted  515,000  persons, 
we  come  into  a  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  remaining 
84,000  were  the  plebeian  or  freedmen  population. 

The  great  city  of  Corinth  whose  census  B.  C.  300,  gave 
only  40,000  "souls"  had  a  slave  population  of  640,000  who 
of  course,  according  to  Plato8  and  other  aristocrats,  could 

*Liv.  XXVII.  16:    "Mil'a  trigenta  pervilium  cap  turn  dicuntur  capta 

«Liv.  XI,V.    24;    Plutarch,  ^Emelins  Paulus,  29. 

»D  odoru-  Siculns,  XVIJI.  18;    Plu  arch's  rhocion,  28. 

•  Biichi-r    Au.ftta.ndc,  S.  84. 

'Athenseu-.  Deipno«ophitlai,   quoting  Ctes:cles, 

f  Plato.  De  Ltgibus  vi.  in  rl;-sertat  on  on  the  immortality  of  the  soul: 
Phce  <o  passim;  esp  cially  74  125.  7.8  9  Bekk. :  Pltcedrus  61-S5-  Republic, 
vii.  1-4,  where  the  working-peo,  le  a  e  allotted  half  a  soul.  vi.  9  :  deformed 
hy  th-ir  craft  ancl&ervle;  So  Timceus,  xvii.  shows  now  souls  are  a 
growth,  Ixxi.  cui  fin ;  Laws,  ix.  8,  ./in;  Statesman,  46:  Yoking  those  who 
\\allow  'n  iunoran  e  to  a  race  of  servile  beings.  The  meaninic  here  i.-  that 
f<n<  h  a<  labor  are  tmrlivine ;  1.  e.  not  fully  fun  i  bed  with  souls.  Soul  is  in 
two  parts,  mortal  and  >mmortal,  Statesman,  46,  Timceus,  71,  Laws,  v  -  19; 
Noth  ng  healthy  n  a  slave'- soul,  says  Plato,  and  quotes  the  Odyssey,  XVH. 
832-333  -here  <"ar-thun.lerj  •  g.  aristocratic  Jove  deprives  ti\e  slave-  of  half 
his  rrrnd,  ?oul  or  upper  nature. 


194  EUNUS. 

not  possess  souls  because  too  mean  to  be  honored  by  the 
gods  with  a  thing  so  noble;  and  this  accounts  for  their 
not  being  enumerated  in  the  census  of  the  city.  They  ap- 
pear to  have  been  too  lowly  to  belong  to  the  numbers  of 
mankind.  • 

Notwithstanding  this  fearful  condition  of  despotism  we 
find  that  the  Locrians  in  south  Italy  had  no  slaves,  being 
organized  communists.  From  the  first  settlement  of  this 
rich  country  by  the  Pythagoreans  no  slaves  are  known  to 
have  existed  until  after  the  Roman  conquests;10  and  con- 
sequently the  culture  among  them  of  equal  rights  when  it 
came  to  clash  against  the  enormous  spread  of  slavery  by 
the  cruel  conquests  of  Rome,  no  doubt  urged  the  great 
epidemic  of  uprisings  which  form  the  subject  of  this  and 
other  chapters  of  the  present  work. 

It  is  somewhat  surprising,  in  the  full  face  of  these  facts 
and  the  agonizing  struggles  of  competitive  warfare  upon 
which  these  brutalities  existed,  that  men  still  ask  in  won- 
der regarding  the  causes  of  downfall  of  the  Greek  and  Rom- 
an empires!  Another  veritable  renaissance,  this  time 
comprising  sociologic  research  and  comparative  history, 
is  at  our  threshold,  destined  to  clear  up  many  a  point  that 
for  want  of  a  true  knowledge  of  the  problem  of  labor  has, 
through  the  ages,  lain  obscured  midst  the  shortcomings 
of  scorn  and  the  musty  vellum  of  histories  and  of  laws. 

In  Sicily  the  condition  of  affairs  was  shocking.  This 
fruitful  island,  which  as  early  as  B.  0.  210,  had  been  con- 
quered by  Rome  and  turned  into  a  Roman  province,  was 
an  especial  offering  to  that  hideously  cruel  system  of  slav- 
ery which  Roman  character,  above  all  others,  seemed  by 
nature  most  suited  to  develop  with  the  blind  attributes  of 
barbarity.  As  an  instance  of  their  grasping  concentra- 
tion of  Sicilian  property  into  few  hands  we  quote  author- 
ities to  the  effect  that  Leontini  had  but  88  landed  prop- 
erty holders;  Mutice  but  188;  Herbita  257;  Agyrium 
230.  The  property  owners  of  whole  cities  could  be  counted 
by  the  dozen. u  All  Sicily  was  overrun  with  slaves  by  birth 

sXenophon,  De  Vectlg.  IV.  14;  Athenaeus  V.;  Bockb,  Laurische  Sll- 
berb.  122-4,  all  give  accounts  of  great  slave  owners. 

1°  The  Locriuns  had  no  slaves  which  seems  to  be  regarded  by  Plato  as 
something  phenomenal:  Timceits,  ii.  Bekk.;  Bockh,  Pub.  (Eicon.  AtAn.  also 
declares  that  they  had  no  slaves.  Not  only  did  the  ancients  hav«  vast 
numbers  of  slaves  (see  Encyc,  £•  <'.  vol.  xx.  p.  140),  but  there  were  many 
freedraen  at  a  verv  early  age.  See  Homer,  Odessey,  XI.  460. 

iiBucher,  Aufst.  d.  unf.'  Arb.  8.  39. 


ENORMOUS  SLAVE  AND  FREEDMEN'S  WAR.     195 

•and  slaves  of  the  auction  shambles.  The  original  inhab- 
itants were  dispossessed  and  driven  from  the  land  or  re- 
mained as  slaves.  The  small  farmers  had  been  either  an- 
nihilated or  crowded  together  in  little  towns  to  eke  out  a 
wretched  existence  under  the  terrors  of  intimidation,  or 
had  been  dragged  down  to  bondage. "  Great  numbers  of 
Syrians  who  from  their  mountain  homes  wb«re  they  were 
inured  to  brisk  physical  activities,  were  brought  over  by  the 
Romans  in  chains,  to  till  the  lands  as  slaves.  Such  was 
the  extent  of  slavery  everywhere. 13  Greece  at  that  time 
was  being  conquered  and  her  hardy  warriors  humbled  to 
slavery,  sent  in  great  numbers  in  chains  to  Syracuse  to  be 
transported  to  the  fruitful  lands  which  in  the  days  of  Ver- 
res  were  styled  the  granary  of  Rome.  u  The  Roman  con- 
quests of  the  Carthagenians  and  the  victories  over  Hanni- 
bal were  followed  by  the  greater  cruelties  for  their  having 
been  dearly  won.  Thousands  of  Africans  hardened  to  ar- 
my life  in  the  Punic  wars,  were  sent  into  Sicily  as  slaves 
to  dig  the  soil  for  the  proud  Roman  occupants  of  that 
land. lt  Only  the  fattest  portions  of  land  were  cared  for, 
the  new  possessors'  idea  being  only  gain.  Strabo  declares 
that  so  far  as  the  aesthetic  was  concerned  all  was  a  barren 
waste.  There  were  many  beautiful  and  fruitful  valleys 
and  some  plateaus  which  had  long  been  celebrated  for  fer- 
tility and  fine  landscape. 

Among  the  wonderfully  fertile  and  paradisaical  plateaus 
of  Sicily  was  that  of  Enna,  the  seat  of  the  greatest  prole- 
tarian strike,  insurrection  or  bond  and  free  labor  war  of 
of  which  history,  tradition  or  inscriptions  give  an  account 
in  any  country  of  the  globe. 

This  great  strike  or  labor  mutiny  of  Enna  in  Sicily  took 
place,  according  to  the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Bticher, 16  be- 
tween the  years  143  and  133  before  Christ,  lasting  10  full 
years.  During  a  period  of  three  years  the  Syrian  slave- 
king  Eunus,  from  Apamea  near  Antioch  but  a  few  leagues 

i*I)'r>dorn9  S  ci'lns,  XXXIV.  fragment  i'.  3,  4  and  elsewhere,  Dinrt. 

is  Drmnann,  Arb.  u.  Komm.  S.  ^4;  "In  Epidamnos  gab  es  keine  Hand- 
vreik  ••<•;>. I <  die  otlentl  ehen  Sklaven." 

"Diod.  i.  1  2;     i.27;    Cnlumella,  De  Be  Suitica,  I.  6,  3,  8,15,16, 

'5  Sir  bo,  Grog.  VI.;    Buch.  S.  40. 

^  Aufs'Sinded.  unf.  Arb.  S.  121-128,  Excrtrs.  As  to  the  name,  notwith 
Ft:indu_'  Dr.  Sie.eit,  we  lollow  the  Gixek  E'wa,  though  some  Romans 
wrote  "Henna." 


196  EUNUS. 

to  the  northward  of  Nazareth,  held  sway  over  all  of  the 
central  districts  of  Sicily  ;  and  from  the  most  reliable  evi- 
dence he  reigned,  after  bis  coalition  with  Cleon  in  B.  C. 
140,  for  seven  more  years,  over  the  whole  island  of  Sicily. 

Introductorily  to  this  extraordinary  fact,  proving  the 
great  power  and  vigorous  leadership  of  some  of  the  ancient 
labor  agitations,  it  will  be  necessary  to  bring  upon  the 
scene  a  brief  description  of  the  place,  the  prevaling  social 
conditions  and  an  outline  of  the  character  of  the  men. 

The  three  leading  men  who  originated  and  managed 
this  great  servile  war,  were  Eunus.  Achseus  and  Cleon. 
Their  two  enormous  armies,  aggregating  200,000  soldiers 
were  united  in  B.  C.  140,  when  Eunus  was  proclaimed  the 
monarch  over  Sicily  entire. 

We  thus  introduce  these  three  branded,  enslaved  work- 
ingmen  to  the  reader.  We  say  branded  and  mean  in  the 
expression  by  no  means  a  figure.  They  were  not  only 
branded,  as  at  the  moment  we  write,  leaders  of  this  labor 
movement  are  branded,  with  obloquy,  black-list  and  stig- 
ma of  men  at  the  helm  of  public  literature.  They  were  lit- 
erally and  indelibly  branded  with  hot  irons.  "  Large  num- 
bers of  quotations  from  the  authors  most  explicitly  prove 
that  all  slaves  were  branded ;  and  the  field  workers  were 
not  only  branded  on  the  forehead  and  limbs,  but  often  on 
the  body ;  and  since  they  were  obliged,  like  the  helots  of 
Sparta,  to  go  mostly  naked,  these  disfigurations  were  sum- 
mer and  winter  exposed  to  view  and  not  only  was  their 
disgrace  stamped  upon  them  forever  but  their  chances  of 
escape  from  bondage  utterly  destroyed. 

Once  on  the  very  spot  where  this  great  outbreak  of  the 
slaves  and  freedmen  occurred,  the  plateau  valley  of  Euna, 
there  lived  a  very  rich  man  named  Damophilus.  He  pos- 
sessed legions  of  slaves  whom  he  forced  under  sting  of  the 
lash,  to  work  naked  upon  his  farms.  His  wealth  of  acre- 
age, latifundium,  consisted  in  part  of  stock  farms.  These 
teemed  with  herds  of  cattle  and  other  animals  which  in 
those  times  throughout  Europe  were  a  large  source  of 

"  Biich.  S.  42,  "Dass  Alle  gobrandmarkt,  nur  die  Feldarbeiter  anch  ge« 
fesselt  waren."  Consult  the  following  ancient  and  modern  -works  :  D'O- 
dorus.  XXXIV.  Jrapr.  ii.  1,  27' 32,  36;  Floras,  III.  19;  Marquardt,  V.  i. 
186;  Mom.  Ri>m'ische  GescMcftte;  Mom.  G.  I.  no.  845  ;  Siefert,  Erst.  Sicilifch. 
Sklavenkrieg,  S.12;  Plato. 


THE  SA  VA  GIL  SLA  V£- BOLDER.  197 

Roman  wealth.  One  day  a  few  of  Ms  poor,  naked  slaves, 
shivering  in  the  chill  winds  of  the  mountain  height  upon 
which  Enna  stood,  came  to  him  and  beseechingly  implored 
a  few  rags  to  cover  their  bodies  and  shut  out  the  cold  which 
added  to  their  sufferings.  Their  daring  plea  was  an- 
swered by  this  cold-hearted  capitalist  with  something  like 
the  following  cutting  leer:  "Don't  wandering  tax-gath- 
erers tramp  the  country  naked  and  must'nt  they  give  their 
clothes  to  those  who  want  them '?  Would' nt  I  be  taxed  a 
customs  duty  on  the  rags  I  gave  you?"18  With  that  Da- 
mophilus  ordered  the  shivering  wretches  to  be  tied  to  the 
whipping  pust  and  warmed  up  with  a  sound  flogging,  then 
sent  back  naked  to  their  labor  of  caring  for  their  master' 
flocks  of  a  thousand  animals. 

Under  such  intense  aggravations  what  else  could  be  ex- 
pected than  a  secret  organization  of  the  thus  abused  and 
degraded  laborers  who  worked  the  lands?  This  question 
comes  the  more  cogently  as  we  realize  that  large  num- 
bers of  them  were  as  intelligent  or  more  so  than  their  own 
masters.  Just  at  this  epoch,  as  already  shown, 19  all  over 
Greece,  Syria,  Palestine,  Asia  Minor  and  the  islands  of 
the  Archipelago  vast  numbers  of  trade  unions  and  social 
societies  existed  among  the  freedmen  and  some  among 
the  slaves.  We  also  know  that  when  the  Romans  seized 
upon  newly  conquered  countries  they  likewise  seized  the 
people,  bond  and  free  and  sold  them  into  slavery.  Large 
numbers  of  these  unfortunates  were  organized  unionists, 
accustomed  at  home  to  the  art  and  secret  of  practiced  com- 
bination. 20  Another  still  more  important  cause  of  the  ter- 
rible strike  which  resulted  from  such  ill-treatment  was  a 
similarity  of  language.  All  Sicily  was  Greek.  The  Greek 
was  the  principal  tongue  spoken  in  Syria  and  even  Phce- 
nicia  and  other  portions  of  Palestine  at  and  before  the 
time  of  Christ ;  although  a  bad  Hebrew  was  the  popular 
idiom.  All  the  island  inhabitants  near  by  spoke  the  pure 
Greek.  It  also  was  spoken  in  Magna  Graecia  or  Lowrer 

"Dlod.  frag.  ii.  38,  Bind. 

"Chaptsr  xx.  Infra,  on  trade  nntoug  citing  inscriptions,  laws  Ac.  in 
evidence.  Diodorug,  XXXVI.  frag.  6  Dind.  tells  us  that  not  only  slave*  but 
many  frvedmen  were  engaged  in  these  mutin  es  and  str.kts  causing  great 
tumults  and  confusions. 

80  Compare  Liiders,  Dionynschc  Kftnttler,;  Also  Foncart,  Associations  Rtl. 
throws  much  light  npou  the  subject  of  their  religious  beliefs. 


198       HOME  OF  VEBES,    GODDESS  OF  LABOR. 

Italy.  Thus  with  intelligence,  with  a  practiced  knowledge 
of  social  combinations,  with  a  sense  of  their  wrongs  made 
keen  by  the  memory  of  happier  days,  with  the  true  blood 
of  the  proud  Greeks  coursing  more  or  less  through  their 
veins  and  finally  but  most  practically,  with  the  powerful 
Greek  tongue  uniformly  at  their  command,  they  under- 
took that  immense  strike-rebellion  amidst  certain  advan- 
tages which  must,  go  far  toward  clearing  away  the  phe- 
nomena of  its  transient  success. 

The  slave  grievance  rapidly  grew  into  a  movement  for 
resistance  in  and  around  Enna,  the  little  pastoral  city,  fa- 
mous for  its  temple  of  Ceres  whence  Plato  had  carried 
Proserpine,  the  daughter  of  that  goddess  to  whom  shep- 
herds, planters  and  especially  working  people  had  from  a 
high  antiquity  looked,  for  her  gifts  of  prosperity. 21  Thus 
here  we  find  the  link  completing  the  chain  of  curious  in- 
terest connecting  the  history  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries 
with  that  of  the  ancient  labor  movement.  Those  labor- 
ing people  were  religious ;  but  about  this  time  they  were 
bitterly  complaining  that  Ceres  their  favorite  goddess  had 
forsaken  them. M  Enna  was  the  original,  ancient  seat  and 
citadel  or  throne  of  the  great  goddess  Demeter,  called  in 
Latin  Ceres.  She  was  the  protecting  immortal  who  in  the 
Pagan  mythology,  seated  in  her  temple  on  the  heights  of 
Enna  in  the  island's  center,  shielded  all  Sicily  from  fam- 
ine. Her  name  had  spread  to  foreign  lands  and  she  was 
worshiped  in  Attica  and  Syria.  Thousands  came  on  an- 
nual pilgrimages  to  Enna  to  worship  at  the  temple  of  Ceres; 
and  great  feasts  to  her  were  here  regularly  celebrated,  be- 
cause she  was  believed  the  mother  of  the  world  and  the 
fructifying  goddess  of  all  nutritious,  fruit  bearing  seeds 
.of  agriculture,  especially  the  cereals.  Near  that  city  lay, 
at  the  time  of  our  story  the  meadow  and  by  it  the  stream 
and  the  spring  and  grottoed  rock  where  her  beautiful 
daughter*3  Persephone  or  Proserpitie,  whilst  gathering 
flowers,  was  stolen  by  Pluto  and  long  hidden  from  her  dis- 
tracted mother.  The  meadow  was  bedecked  with  a  grand 
carpeting  of  roses,  hyacinths  aud  violets  and  the  soft  zepli- 

41  See  cbapttr  iv.  on  the  mythical  legend  of  Proserpine's  abduction,  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries  and  the  grie\ance  of  the  proletarian  outcasts. 

MBu.'her,  Aufstande,  S.  62 

2s  Consult  Encyc.  Brit.  Art.  Ceres  ;  La  Rousse,  Diet.  Univ.  Art.  ^rosezptne. 
Much  literature  is  extant  confirming  these  statements. 


THE  S^AVE  KING.  199 

yrs  of  summer  were  aromatic  -with  their  odors.  All  the 
landscape  was  adorned  with  nature's  tempting  vegetation. 
Many  a  tiny  lake  with  pure,  clear  waters  peeped  from  be- 
tween the  hills  and  hillocks  of  Enna  and  rich,  well  culti- 
vated lands  on  every  side  were,  and  had  for  centuries  been 
the  pride  of  Sicily.  **  Wheat  and  other  cereals  had  long 
prospered  with  such  success  that  the  place  had  obtained  a 
celebrity.  And  yet,  midst  all  these  magnificent  offerings 
of  nature  we  see  this  region  a  scene  of  the  most  brutal  and 
greed-cursed  slavery  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  that  in- 
satiate institution. 

Antigenes  is  the  name  of  one  of  a  joint  stock  company 
whose  business  at  that  time  was  traffic  in  human  beings. 
He  certainly  owned  a  city  residence  at  Enna  and  kept  his 
slaves  about  the  house.  **  Among  these  was  a  man  who, 
born  and  brought  up  in  Apamea  near  Antioch,  Syria,  had 
more  than  probably  been  a  leader  of  an  eranos 26  or  a  thi- 
asos  in  his  native  home.  This  is  made  the  more  probable 
by  bis  being  a  pretentious  prophet  and  Messiah  while  in  a 
state  of  bondage  at  Enna.  It  was  the  wonderful  Eunus ; 
the  magician,  fire-spitter,  wonder-worker,  prophet  and  the 
plotter  of  the  hugest  slave  insurrection  of  ancient  or  mod- 
ern times;  slave-king  of  Enna,  then  king  of  all  Sicily  and 
commander  in  chief  at  one  time  of  over  200,000  soldiers; 
— the  man  who,  with  his  sagacious  generals,  faithful  and 
true,  beat  army  after  army  of  the  Romans,  sent  years  in 
succession  to  meet  his  slave  and  freedmen  troops  and  who 
in  the  teeth,  as  it  were,  of  Syracuse  and  of  prouder  Borne, 
actually  reigned  in  humane  splendor,  apparently  beloved 
and  respected,  for  a  period  of  ten  years ;  constituting  a 
veritable  epoch  of  history,  though  nearly  lost  and  quite 
unrecognized  through  the  taint  of  labor.  We  shall  confine 
ourselves  to  a  relation  of  all  the  facts  and  particulars  to 
be  had,  based  upon  the  evidence  quoted  and  which  per- 

"Strabo,  Geog.  VI. :    Consult  the  exquisite  picture  of  the  landscape  giv- 
en by  Dr.  Bucber,  Auftlande  etc.   S.  52. 
&I)iod.  XXXIV   frag.  ii.  5,  Dinrt. 

KId.  frag.  il.  I,  5.  seq.  For  fuller  description  of  these  trade  or  labor 
union?  see  chapters  xiii.— xx.  Eunus,  Cleon  and  Athenion  were  all  born 
near  the  home  of  Jesus. 

«  Buch  S.  54 .  "Er  war  eln  grosser  Magier  nnd  Wunderthater,  der  zu  den 
Gottern  in  nachater  Bezieung  stand  und  nicbt  nnr  im  Traume  von  ihnen  die 
Znknnft  erfuhr,  sondern  aucb  in  wachendem  Zustande  sie  leibhaft.g  vor 
8ich  sab." 


200  EUNUS. 

haps,  no  person  on  thorough  criticism,  will  be  able  to  con- 
trovert. EUDUS  was  a  prophet.  He  pretended  to  work 
miracles, "'  and  was  one  of  the  ancient  Messiahs. 

But  we  must  not  suppose  that  he  was  a  weak  minded 
man  because  he  knew  how  to  blow  fire  from  his  mouth  or 
because  he  vaunted  presages  which  often  came  true.  He 
was  in  all  probability  an  extraordinary  man,  full  of  shrewd 
wisdom,  endowed  with  almost  superhuman  courage  and 
certainly  with  great  judgment  and  patience  in  selecting 
his  generals  and  in  giving  and  indulging,  to  keep  them  in 
place  and  power  while  holding  to  himself  supreme  con- 
trol. 28  When  a  slave  he  foretold  that  although  the  god- 
dess Demeter  or  Ceres  had  apparently  forsaken  the  poor, 
yet  she  was  revealing  herself  in  dreams  to  him  and  prom- 
ising her  might  to  their  deliverance. 29  So  certain  was  he 
of  theocratic  interference  that  he  told  of  his  mediatorial 
powers  not  only  to  his  fellow  working  people  but  even  to 
his  master  and  to  all  the  lords  and  ladies,  who,  to  beguile 
their  evening  hours,  used  to  invite  or  more  probably,  or- 
der him  to  recount  the  results  of  his  nightly  interviews 
with  the  august  goddess.  Pretending  that  as  she  was  also 
the  patron  deity  of  Syria  his  native  land,  he  maintained 
that  she  revealed  herself  to  him  with  an  assurance  that  he 
was  to  become  a  king  and  deliverer.  Even  these  super- 
natural things  he  told  to  Antigenes  at  these  banquets  amid 
the  laughter  and  derision  of  the  skeptical  guests.  His  in- 
genuousness worked  upon  their  curiosity  and  their  invita- 
tions were  apparently  made  with  a  purpose  of  amusement 
during  their  orgies  of  wine  and  gluttony.  Their  sport,  he 
however,  seems  to  have  overlooked,  taking  their  vei  i .  of 
merriment  or  ridicule  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  himself 

From  what  followed,  it  cannot  be  imputed  to  Eanus  that 
he  was  weak  minded.  He  promised  Antigenes  to  except 
and  spare  him  on  the  day  of  wrath — an  obligation  which 
he  religiously  kept  and  faithfully  carried  out. 

The  cruelties  of  Pamophilus, 30  who  caused  his  working 
hands  to  be  whipped,  struck  deeply  into  the  sensitive  feel- 
ings of  thousands  of  other  men.  They  were  able  to  come 
together,  secretly  or  otherwise  to  discuss  their  sufferings 

2S  Biod.  Ifltm,  fragment  ii.    5.  6. 

»  Diod.  XXXIV.  6,  6    7.  and  8  of  frng.  it. 

so  .Mem,  XXXIV.  frag.  ii.  34,  35.  Diud. 


A    CRUSL    WOMAN.       THE    COUP  LOT.          201 

tind  form  their  plot.  Dr.  Biicher  understands  from  glean- 
ings of  the  Vatican  and  other  fragments  that  the  plot  orig- 
inated with  the  slaves  of  Damophilus.  31  It  is  however, 
quite  certain  that  what  came  to  pass  was  spontaneous  re- 
sulting from  a  combination  of  grievances  and  a  strong  re- 
ligious belief  in  Eunus.  The  other  slaves  of  Antigenes 
also  took  part. 

Damophilas  and  his  yet  more  cruel  wife  Megallis,  appear 
to  have  been  models  of  ferocity.  Their  young  and  beau- 
tiful daughter  was  the  exception.  Megallis  was  in  the 
habit  of  whipping  her  female  slaves  to  death  with  her  own 
hand.  It  was  like  a  mania  people  sometimes  possess,  for 
delighting  in  scenes  of  suffering.  Endowed  with  unlim- 
ited power  through  the  Roman  laws  and  usages,  to  do  as 
she  pleased,  she  suited  any  action  to  fancy  and  gloried  in 
tearing  the  poor  life  from  her  helpless  victims.  Nor  was 
the  ferocity  of  her  husband  much  less.  The  incident  we 
have  recited  was  probably  one  of  leniency  compared  with 
many  that  remain  untold,  Certain  it  is,  that  his  atroci- 
ties together  with  those  of  his  wife  toward  her  defence- 
less female  slaves  are  what  decided  this  great  uprising. 

But  we  have  the  extremely  pleasing  assurance  that  the 
feeling  which  those  slaves  entertained  toward  the  kind- 
hearted  daughter  of  this  ferocious  pair — a  young  maiden 
whom  they  all  loved — proved  her  palladium  ;  for  with  the 
greatest  tenderness  they  guarded  and  spa  red  her  through 
the  scenes  of  blood. sa 

Plans  of  a  great  revolutionary  revolt  were  soon  decided 
upon,  and  collusion  with  Eunus  secured  the  sympathy  of 
the  city  slaves.  These  arrangements  were  then  commu- 
nicated to  those  in  the  country. 

The  plot  was  thus  completed  and  the  moment  set.  All 
had  enthusiastically  determined  to  break  loose  by  a  desper- 
ate struggle,  from  their  unendurable  tortures  and  daunt- 
lessly  brave  the  storm  with  all  the  consequences  this  per- 
ilous action  entailed.  They  had  worked  themselves  up  to 
believe  that  their  goddess  would  be  propitious. 

By  preconcerted  arrangement,  four  hundred  slaves  as- 
sembled at  the  setting  in  of  night,  in  a  field  near  the  cita- 

«  BUclier  Anfstdnde  <£c.  8.  55. 

K  D.^ocl.  XXXIV.    ii.  39  :      ""On  Kara.  TTIV  2(KtAt«u>   ?ji>  TOW  Aafi<x£t'Aow  dvyanjp 
'Ep/itias,  aTDJyayof  tU  KOTC>;,|'  -poj  Tifas  oixfiovt." 


202  HUM  US. 

del  of  Enna.  They  qiiickly  organized  a  meeting.  They 
then  each  took  a  sacred  oath  to  persevere  in  their  enter- 
prise and  hold  fast  together.  The  little  multitude  came 
armed.  Their  weapons  each  had  obtained  as  best  he  could. 
All  were  armed  with  courage  and  with  anger  ;  and  each 
determined  to  defend  his  new  liberty  to  the  death.  They 
marched  up  to  the  Enna  heights  under  a  leader  who  used 
all  his  prodigious  arts  of  legerdemain,  gesture,  and  fire- 
spitting,  to  encourage  them  and  prevent  a  panic.  With- 
out meeting  resistance  they  gained  admission  through  the 
gates,  into  the  city. 

There  were  the  millionaires  with  their  ladies,  the  tem- 
ple of  the  goddess,  the  theatre,  the  place  of  entertainment. 
The  insurgents  instantly  took  possession  of  the  streets 
and  as  they  marched,  singled  out  their  well  known  victims. 
Rich  men  and  women  who  long  had  held  unbridled  power 
over  hitherto  helpless  slaves,  now  saw  the  danger  as  they 
felt  their  guilt.  Pitiless  was  the  retributive  reaction  of 
the  enraged  and  surging  mass.  They  brained  their  own- 
ers ;  and  those  who  had  made  sport  of  their  leader  Eunus, 
likewise  bit  the  dust.  All  slaves  and  prisoners  found  in 
dungeons  and  in  irons  were  set  free.  M  A  terrible  scene 
followed.  Children  were  torn  from  their  mothers'  arms, 
and  women  ravished  in  presence  of  their  husbands,  who, 
bound  in  cords,  could  make  no  resistance  to  this  fiendish- 
ness.  Scenes  of  death  were  everywhere  enacted;  for  from 
the  onset  of  this  bloody  work,  the  slaves,  stinging  with  a 
keen  memory  of  their  sufferings, M  enjoyed  with  a  peculiar 
glee  which  fills  the  savage,  the  opportunity,  each  with  cuts 
and  gashes  to  cross  out  his  ghastly  account.  To  a  thus 
quickened  lust  of  vengeance,  there  rushed  a  remembrance 
of  the  cruelties  of  Damophilus  who  gloated  on  the  bruises 
of  his  clubs  and  the  sting  of  his  whips,  and  of  Megallis, 
his  wife,  who  had  whipped  to  death  her  female  servants. 
It  was  an  hour  of  vengeance.  All  centered  upon  this  sweet- 
est morsel  to  the  savage; — summary  retribution.  Blood 
of  the  now  helpless  rich  flowed  freely  amid  the  yells  of  the 
naked  slaves  whose  brands  and  scars  gleamed  hideously 
by  the  fires  of  the  burning  houses  of  their  fallen  masters. 
Great  numbers  of  slave-holders  paid  their  former  acts  of 
indi  scretion  with  their  lives. 

s>Diod.    XXXIV.  frag.  ii.  12.  » Id.   §.   49 


A    TERRIBLE  SCENE    OF   CARNAGE.        203 

Large  numbers  of  slaves  who  were  kept  in  service  within 
the  city  and  who  had  previously  been  prepared  for  the  cri- 
sis, now  joined  the  insurgents,  swelling  their  forces  and 
making  the  capture  of  the  city  complete. 

We  have  in  other  pages 3S  shown  that  in  nearly  all  trade 
unions,  especially  the  branch  of  them  known  as  the  thiasoi, 
they  seem  to  have  had  an  officer  whose  duty  it  was  to  fore- 
tell, work  miracles  and  do  other  sage  things,  such  as  in 
those  early  ages  of  the  world  were  not  only  common,  but 
were  thought  necessary.  The  idea  of  a  Messiah  or  deliv- 
erer sent  from  heaven  to  ransom  the  lowly  from  their  ev- 
erywhere prevailing  misery  permeated  all  their  organiza- 
tions, M  Eunus  therefore,  in  his  pretentions,  but  copied 
from  thousands. 

The  hours  of  grateful  vengeance  sped  on  the  breezes 
of  that  truculent  lullaby.  Object  after  object  of  their  de- 
testation and  hatred  was  dragged  forth  and  amid  screams 
for  mercy,  relentlessly  silenced  with  knife,  flames  and  blud- 
geon until  before  the  fury  waned  the  pitiful  wails  of  the 
slaughtered  grew  faint  through  sheer  extermination. 

But  one  there  was  who  yet  remained  uncaptured  and 
unpunished.  This  was  Damophilus.  On  consultation  it 
was  ascertained  that  he  was  cowering  in  his  pavillion,  a 
little  distance  from  the  city.  The  insurgents  sent  thither 
a  detachment  with  orders  to  bring  him  in  alive.  By  this 
time  the  rage  of  the  slaves  had  begun  to  assuage.  They 
brought  their  great  abuser  before  Eunus  in  the  auditori- 
um of  the  theatre,  whither  they  adjourned  to  hold  a  trial 
of  his  case,  Damophilus,  covered  with  wounds  and  bleed- 
ing, his  arms  pinioned,  his  fine  dress  torn  and  soiled,  was 
dragged  before  the  still  maddened  crowd,  his  wife  Meg- 
allis  with  him,  both  trembling  in  fateful  expectancy  of  their 
doom. 

The  rich  man  was  granted  an  opportunity  to  answer 
and  spar  the  scathing  accusations  that  were  heaped  npon 
him — bitter  reminders  of  his  mercilelssness  to  them  when 
the  power  was  his  to-  abuse  them.  But  Damophilus  coyly 
and  cunningly  met  each  accusation  with  words  clothed  in 
ambiguity  and  dazzle  and  parried  off  their  bitter  bluntness 
by  his  affected  utterances  of  honeyed  words.  He  was 

"Chapter  xvlil.  and  elsewhere.  »«Foucart,  AttoeiaKont  Bel. 


204  EUNUS. 

making  inroads  upon  their  sympathies  when  Zeuxes  and 
Hermias,  two  powerful  Greek  slaves,  who  had  themselves, 
in  other  days  been  victims  of  his  cruelty,  rushed  between 
him  and  hope,  one  with  a  dagger  and  the  other  an  axe. 
These  men  were  keenly  sensible  to  the  progress  Damo- 
philus  was  making  on  the  susceptibilities  of  his  tatterde- 
malion jury;  and  fearing  lest  his  mellifluous  explanations 
should  overcome  them  and  that  they  might  thus  commit 
the  absurdity  of  punishing  thousands  less  stamped  with 
cruelties  and  turn  loose  the  deep-dyed  monsters  whose 
atrocities  were  the  immediate  cause  of  the  revolt, 37  they 
crashed  down  the  aisle  of  the  theatre,  advanced  upon  him 
weapons  drawn  and  put  a  violent  end  to  this  mock  trial 
of  their  foe  by  beating  out  his  brains  upon  the  spot.  Di- 
odorus  relates  that  one  of  them  stabbed  him  with  a  knife 
in  the  side  and  the  other  chopped  off  his  head  with  the 
axe.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  terrified  Megallis,  who  must 
have  seen  the  reeking  knife  and  the  merciless  guillotine  by 
which  her  husband  had  fallen,  heard  his  pleadings  for  an 
extension  of  life  and  with  horror  beheld  his  ghastly  pun- 
ishment, was  delivered  up,  bound  hand  and  foot,  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  her  female  slaves  little  less  instinctively 
savage  than  their  male  companions  frenzied  with  woman's 
hatred  and  still  goaded  by  memory's  spectres  of  their 
own  mothers  and  daughters  perishing  under  the  lash  once 
wielded  by  this  most  pitiless  enemy,  the  now  supplicating 
Megallis'  own  hand.  Little  could  be  hoped  for  under  such 
circumstances.  Mercy  was  impossible.  The  horrified  and 
shrieking  lady  was,  like  Damophilus,  arraigned  for  mock 
trial  before  a  horde  of  nude  and  blood-grimed  women, 
taunted  until  each  imbittered  one  requited  herself  with  cen- 
sure and  derision,  with  dallying  flings  and  a  satiety  of  jeers 
such  as  only  wild  women  avenging  a  wounded  love,  pos- 
sess the  genius  to  consummate.  When  all  these  prelim- 
inaries were  ended,  Megallis  was  seized  by  a  dozen  mus- 
cular females,  stripped  of  her  finery  and  undoubtedly  her 
clothes,  dragged  to  the  pinacle  of  a  lofty  crag  in  which  tLe 
mountain  city  of  Enna  abounds.  All  effort  of  the  shriek- 
ing, fainting  woman  to  writhe  out  of  their  clutching  fin- 
gers fast  fixed  upon  her  throat  and  body  were  unavailii,,:;' 

»'Diod.  frag,  ii   14,  D  ndori. 


THE  FRIGHTFUL  EXECUTION.  205 

and  fruitless.  They  drew  her  out  upon  the  projecting 
prominence  yawning  over  the  abyss  well  known  to  the 
shuddering  unfortunate  as  the  Golgotha  of  miscreants  and 
recalcitrant  slaves.  From  these  frowning  crags  eagles  and 
ominous  night-birds  were  wont  to  startle  the  listener  with 
their  screams.  Legends  of  horrors  of  this  fatal  rock  were 
told  by  mothers  as  early  inculcations  to  their  babes.  This 
wretched  victim  may  have  also  more  than  once  contributed 
her  ingenuity  descanting  upon  its  boding  gloom  and  ter- 
rors as  she  lavished  it  on  the  torture  of  her  now  avenging 
chattels. 

But  all  this  sentimentalism  suffices  nothing  in  presence 
of  so  ghastly  a  reality  as  the  death  that  now  frowned,  and 
stared  this  quivering  mother  in  the  face.  The  unimpress- 
ible  avengers  were  not  to  be  frustrated  by  the  moans  and 
sobs  which  lYrmed  a  part  of  the  solace  of  their  grievances. 
When  they  had  dragged  her  to  the  very  brink  they  no 
doubt  made  her  undergo  some  of  the  prevailing  formulas 
of  death  and  then  plunged  her  headlong  down  the  preci- 
pice where  she  was  battered  to  a  jelly  upon  the  sharp  flints 
of  the  dell  below.  Such,  according  to  Diodorns,  Strabo, 
the  modern  critics  and  some  tale-telling  inscriptions,  was 
the  fate  of  an  ancient  millionaire  and  his  wife  whom  great 
1  r  sperity  had  rendered  void  of  all  the  amenities  and 
lovliness  of  civilized  life. 

There  yet  remained  one  member  of  that  fate-stricken 
family — the  daughter  already  alluded  to ;  a  young  lady  of 
both  tender  age  and  heart.  M  This  damsel  had  from  her 
babyhood  shown  exceeding  sympathy  and  kindness  to- 
ward the  female  slaves  in  their  misfortunes.  Never  had 
she  taken  part  in  her  mother's  cruelties.  She  had,  on  the 
contrary,  shown  them  the  tenderest  commiseration ;  and 
her  many  little  offerings  during  their  sufferings,  had  often 
gone  far  in  the  direction  of  healing  a  breach  between  fate 
and  despair.  Those  whom  the  master's  love  of  vengeance 
had  left  bound  and  often  chained  in  dungeons  of  the  er- 
gfi$titlnm,  with  wl>irh  ancient  slave  farms  were  cursed,  she 
had  comforted  and  administered  to.  Could  such  lindness 
be  now  forgott;-  l.  Con  d  the  remem»:;i  ce  of  this  chi.d- 
benef actress,  even  in  that  awful  vortex  o:  ^>  iolence,  be  over- 
looked? Could  conscience  be  stifled  even  midst  butch  cries 

«  I)  >  d.  fra-.  39. 


206  EUNUS. 

whose  mocking  carnival  made  death  a  saiire  upon  empty 
ideas  of  right  and  wrong?  Or  could  such  a  pretty  thing 
as  sympathy  wedge  itself  in  amongst  the  howls  and  tur- 
bulence that  shook  this  scene  of  oblivion  and  of  death  ? 
Yes.  A  love  which  was  stamped  into  their  fierce,  rough 
natures  still  lived  and  warmed  them  like  a  sunbeam,  for- 
cing itself  foremost,  even  into  this  terrible  qualm  reacting 
against  morality.  Not  a  ruthless  hand  was  laid  upon  her 
trembling  form.  Speechless  unanimity  prevailed  on  the 
question  of  sparing  her  life.  All  would  spare  and  protect 
a  faithful  friend.  On  consultation  Hermias,  one  of  her 
father's  executioners,  was  chosen  leader  of  a  picked  band 
-who  soon  after  performed  the  perilous  task  of  escorting 
her  safely  to  the  distant  city  of  Catana,  the  home  of  some 
relatives  near  the  sea. 

We  have  in  this  episode  another  instance  substantiat- 
ing the  opinion  heretofore  expressed,  that  the  emotion  of 
sympathy  has  been  a  growth  in  the  breast  of  the  crushed 
and  humiliated  classes,  fledged  from  their  schools  of  mu- 
tual love  or  commiseration  and  common  support.  Poor 
people  are  themselves  the  makers  of  most  of  the  sympa- 
thies which  they  enjoy.  Even  the  daughter  of  Damoph- 
ilus  grew  in  sympathy  at  the  sight  of  misery.  However 
rude  the  crust  screening  from  view  our  inner  nature,  that 
nature  never  had,  under  Pagan  control,  much  sympathy 
allowed  it.  Sympathy  seems  clearly  to  have  been  a  growth 
out  of  a  vast  association  in  many  parts  of  ancient  Greek 
and  Roman  states  and  did  not  thrive  among  the  opulent. 
Concupiscence  with  its  cupidity  and  irascibility  were  the 
pillars  on  which  rested  the  ancient  paganism  and  its  aged 
competitive  system ;  and  though  the  majorities  who  were 
of  the  working  class  possessed  enough  of  the  latter  in  its 
crudest  form,  yet  they  had  little  greed  or  avarice.  They 
in  fact,  developed  sentiments  of  a  reverse  nature.  They 
longed  for  a  socialism  that  would  breed  sympathy  with  its 
mutual  love  and  care.  Diodorus,  one  of  our  informants 
on  this  subject  of  the  slaves  of  Enna,  in  referring  to  their 
treatment  of  the  daughter  of  Damophilus  and  Megallis, 
says :  "These  slaves  on  strike  demonstrated,  in  showing 
no  sympathy  or  mercy  to  those  who  had  been  their  mas- 
ters and  in  delivering  themselves  up  to  their  own  violence 
and  wrath,  that  what  they  did  was  not  the  mean  prompt- 


THE   ORDEAL    OF    VENGEANCE  ABATES.    207 

ings  of  barbarity,  but  a  just  retribution  or  punishment  for 
the  injustice  which  had  been  done  to  them ;" 39  bold  words 
indeed,  but  just  and  true ;  and  the  student  of  sociology 
may  now  divine  the  reasons  why  that  brave  publicist  has 
lain  for  2,000  years  in  obloquy,  with  his  wonderful  tales 
and  descriptions  in  tatters  among  the  rubbish  of  the  vaults, 
or  later,  in  the  literary  sepulchres  of  the  Vatican. 

It  appears  that  this  theatre  which  had  been  the  scene 
of  the  fury  we  have  described  became  the  focus  of  delib- 
eration after  the  frenzy  of  their  vengeance  had  subsided 
and  the  more  serious  matters  connected  with  the  future 
began  to  force  themselves  upon  their  reflection.  They 
saw  that  as  soon  as  the  news  of  their  action  reached  Rome, 
the  scornful  power  which  for  ages  had  thrived  by  con- 
quest and  its  booty  of  lands  and  slaves,  there  would  spring 
up  an  immense  army  to  suppress  them.  They  had  the  sa- 
gacity to  foresee  that  their  only  hope  was  in  a  strong  army 
well  equipped  and  disciplined,  powerful  enough  to  cope, 
even  with  the  forces  of  Rome.  It  further  appears  from 
the  evidence  that  so  deep  had  been  the  foresight  and  so 
long  the  communings  on  this  matter,  so  secretly  had  the 
whole  uprising  been  concocted,  that  all  things  necessary 
to  this  resistance  were  well-nigh  prepared  beforehand; 
and  the  general  appearance  with  its  sequel  demonstrate 
that  the  central  idea  of  a  tumultuous  feast  of  blood  and 
dissipation  and  of  subsequent  demoralization  and  gluttony 
was  far  from  them.  But  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they 
had  already  determined  to  throw  down  the  slave  system 
of  which  they  were  victims  and  upon  its  ruins  build  up  a 
social  fabric  which  should  deal  equitably  and  humanely  by 
all.  To  one  acquainted  with  the  vast  and  inexhaustabie 
power  of  Rome,  this  dream  of  the  poor  slave  socialists 
would  have  seemed  an  absurd  machination  of  the  fancy. 
But  on  the  other  hand  they  were  on  an  island  with  whose 
rocky  cliffs,  caverns,  forests  and  by-paths  they  were  well 
acquainted.  They  wanted  to  build  up  a  kingdom  of  men 
and  women  emancipated  from  slavery  and  economic  want 
with  their  leader  Eunus,  on  the  throne.  They  held  good 
to  this  resolution. 

Eunus  was  elected  king. 40    It  does  not  appear  that  their 

»  Dlod.  XXXIV.    fragment  u.  39.  ^  Idem.    frag.  ii.  14. 


208  EUNUS. 

choice  of  him  was  on  account  of  any  military  tact  which 
he  had  shown  as  their  leader  nor  on  account  of  his  supe- 
rior capacities  of  any  kind,  unless  it  was  that  of  working 
wonders.  This  however,  was  extremely  necessary  in  the 
mind  of  superstitious  men,  as  were  most  of  the  ancients,, 
especially  the  laboring  class  who,  in  their  unions  among 
the  freedmen,  often  kept  a  sorcerer  who  knew  how  to  spit 
fire,  dawdle  with  the  little  oracles  and  pronounce  proph- 
ecies. Even  the  rich  had  their  magi  or  fortune-tellers  and 
their  haruspices,  as  well  as  higher  priests  who  often  de- 
cided the  turn  of  conquests  by  the  simple  consultation  of 
an  oracle.  Eunus  could  blow  fire,  tell  wonders,  pretend 
and  prophecy ;  and  Eunus  was  elected  king.  Again,  the 
name  Eunous,  the  benificent,  was  considered  a  harbinger 
of  deeds  certain  to  bring  forth  good. 

King  Eunus,  on  receiving  his  crown,  rose  equal  to  the 
majesty  of  his  new  estate.  He  assumed  all  the  oriental 
bearing  of  kingly  dignity.  He  established  the  offices  of 
state  with  such  splendors  as  he  could  command.  There 
was  given  him  for  a  queen  a  female  slave  who  like  him- 
self, hailed  from  Apamea  in  Syria — probably  old  play- 
mates. Such  was  the  happy  one  to  be  raised  to  the  queen- 
ship.  To  crown  himself  in  still  more  royal  imitation  of 
the  dignities  of  his  fatherland  he  named  himself  Antiocb. 
From  the  moment  Eunus  began  his  reign  he  appears 
to  have  been  successful.  Full  details  are  wanting.  From 
Cicero  we  have  hints 41  that  the  temple  of  Ceres  or  Dem- 
eter  was  preserved  with  scrupulous  care,  as  well  as  all  the 
property  belonging  to  it.  No  doubt  however,  he  changed 
the  officers  of  the  temple  from  high  priests  to  vestal  vir- 
gins, supplanting  the  old  by  a  choice  of  his  own  people. 
Biicher  thinks"  that  his  administration  from  first  to  last, 
considering  all  circumstances  peculiarly  connected  with 
the  character  and  notions  of  the  Semitic  and  Aryan  races 
with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  showed  more  than  usual  fit- 
ness. He  understood  the  theory  of  government.  It  is 
certain  that  at  Enna  there  was  one  of  those  cavern  pris- 
ons, such  as  had  been  dug  by  Dionysius  the  tyrant  at  Syr- 
acuse. We  know  that  those  pestilential  subterranean 

«'  Cicero.    Verrez.    fv.  60,  112 

•J-  Au/st.  S.  59:     -'Metir  als  jjewohnl  che  Befahigun^."    Si 'fort.  S.  18; 
"Man  wiihlte  iha  zum  kuaig  ....well  er  den  A  ui  stand  fcegonncu  hatte." 


EUXUS   PROVES    TRUE   TO    HJS    WORD.     209 

dungeons  existed  in  great  numbers,  called  by  the  Romans 
ergastula,  in  many  parts  of  Italy  and  bicily.  They  were 
often  underground  workshops  like  the  quarries — the  hor- 
ror of  the  ancient  slave.  Florus  and  Piodorus  combine  in 
the  statement  that  more  than  60,000  fighting  soldiers 
of  the  great  rebel  army  were  convicts  turned  loose  from 
these  prisons43  during  the  war.  Eunus  incarcerated  a 
large  number  of  the  rich  in  the  holes  at  Enna  and  it  may 
be  presumed  that  the  old  prisoners  were  first  discharged 
to  give  room  for  the  new.  A  council  of  war  was  held  and 
it  was  decided  to  put  all  these  many  prisoners  to  death. 
This  was  the  result  of  a  mass  meeting  of  the  faithful  and 
unfaltering  to  Eunus,  as  a  forewarning  of  the  certain  re- 
sult of  taking  part  in  any  effort  to  escape,  or  of  mixing 
and  intriguing  to  restore  the  old  government.  Few  of 
the  old  rule  people  were  left  alive  except  the  free  mechan- 
ics who  could  make  arms ;  and  even  they  were  compelled 
to  work  in  fetters.  To  those  who  had  invited  Eunus  to  a 
seat  of  mock  honor  on  account  of  his  pretended  powers 
in  legerdemain  and  gifts  of  divination  at  their  sympo- 
siums and  for  the  amusement  of  guests,  and  whom  he  had 
promised  their  lives  in  case  he  realized  his  heaven-offered 
kingdom,  he  held  good  his  word.  He  also  saved  them  their 
fortunes. "  They  were  spared  by  a  royal  decree  and  the 
mandate  was  Bent  them  in  true  regal  form.  He  also  saved 
the  temples  and  other  holy  property.  ** 

At  length  Eunus  called  a  council  of  permanent  govern- 
ment, First  of  all  was  chosen  Achseus.  "He  was,  in  a 
formal  manner  made  consiliarius  of  the  faithful"  The 
ancient  author  who  leaves  us  these  choice  fragments  of 
history 48  suffixes  his  opinion  that  Eunus  in  making  choice 
of  him  as  lieutenant  and  counselor  general,  showed  won- 
derful ability  and  prudence.  This  man  understood  and 
deeply  sympathized  with  the  Syrian  element  of  which 
the  slave  population  of  Enna  by  conquest  was  largely  com- 
posed. But  he  was  moreover  endowed  with  extraordi- 

43  Floras,    Epit.  Hist  Rom.  III.  19,  §  6  ;    "Hoc  miraculum  prirunin  dao 

millia  ex  obviig.  mox  jure  belli  refract. a  erga-tulis,  sexaglnta  amplins  luillia 
nc.t  Kxeroitom  '' 

M  Diod.     XXXIV.     frag,  li .    42  ;     "Tuv    oiiav   Sf    TOIJ   an-oo-TaTais    KOTaora* 
«dpio?.";    Bucher,  AufsU  S    59;    Siefert,  Sklavenk.  8.  17. 
«C:o.    Verr,    iv.  60,  112. 
«  Diod.  Id.  frajr.  ii.  42.      , 


210  EUNUS. 

nary  wisdom  and  unscrupulous  will-power  in  expedients, 
where  emergencies  required  it.  He  was  capable  of  fear- 
lessly organizing,  on  the  inspection  of  a  circumstance,  a 
resistance  powerful  enough  to  shatter  the  peril  whatever  it 
might  be  ;  and  he  had  the  judgment  and  force  of  char- 
acter to  push  it  to  its  immediate  and  successful  results. 
He  was  bold  enough  to  plainly  tell  to  Eunus  his  misgiv- 
ings and  impart  to  him  the  truth  ;  and  that  dignitary 
had  wisdom  and  a  sufficient  amount  of  common  sense  to. 
hear  him  with  composure  and  acquiesce  in  his  views.  A 
perfect  agreement  was  the  result. 

Dr.  Bucher  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that  Achseus  was  one 
of  the  thousands  of  unfortunates  who  had  been  reduced  to 
slavery  through  the  Roman  conquest  of  Achaia,  B.  C.146,  or 
about  3  years  before. 47  Achaia  being  in  the  heart  of  the 
Greek  Peninsula,  on  the  gulf  of  Corinth,  near  and  includ- 
ing the  great  city  of  that  name,  was  of  purest  Greek;  and 
Greeks  in  those  days  were  mighty  men.  But  the  brutal 
fiat  of  Roman  conquest  had  recently  swept  over  the  whole 
Grecian  territory  and  buzzard-like,  swallowed  up  her  fa- 
mous provinces  and  cities  and  sold  her  braves  into  slav- 
ery. We  thus  find  circumstantial  evidence  that  Achaeus 
had  the  sagacity,  acumen  and  intrepidity  of  his  race.  So 
well  pleased  was  the  slave-king  with  Achseus  that  he  made 
him  a  present  of  one  of  the  fine  houses  of  his  former 
millionaire  masters. 

The  success  of  the  great  insurrection  from  henceforth 
is  to  be  attributed  in  great  measure  to  Achseus,  general- 
in-chief.  In  three  days  he  had  armed  and  equipped  no 
less  than  6,000  soldiers  and  had  them  ready  for  the  ex- 
pected armies  from  Rome  which  all  well  knew  would  soon 
arrive  by  fbrced  marches  to  put  down  the  rebellion.  As 
all  these  slaves  knew  the  awful  consequences  of  defeat,  we 
may  imagine  the  incentives  which  prompted  their  activity 
in  making  ready  for  coming  conflicts. 

The  outside  agricultural  places  soon  began  to  be  heard 
from.  They  consisted  of  heterogeneous  ranks — a  motly 
mass,  who,  rushing  from  their  work  on  hearing  the  news 
of  the  revolt,  straggled  into  the  new  head-quarters  from 
far  and  near.  They  streamed  into  the  town,  each  with  a 

d.  unf.  Arb.  S.   60. 


ORGANIZING    THE   SOCIALIST  ARMY.        211 

T)utcher-knife,  an  axe,  a  sickle,  a  pitchfork  of  iron  or  wood. 
Slings  were  weapons  with  widen  the  numerous  shepherds 
were  best  practiced ;  and  they  knew  their  use  with  fatal 
effect.  Inspired  with  a  hope  of  liberty  at  any  price  or  ag- 
ony of  effort,  they  were  ready  to  stake  their  lives  under 
perilous  odds  for  a  chance  at  winning  it. 

There  were  at  that  moment  no  troops  of  the  Roman  le- 
gions in  Sicily.  The  only  immediate  forces  to  be  feared 
by  the  workingmen  were  the  militia  from  the  different 
cities.  There  had  occurred  no  dangerous  strikes  among 
the  slaves  for  many  years  here,  and  in  consequence,  Rome 
had  not,  as  in  Etruria,  on  the  Tarantine  gulf  and  else- 
where, provided  a  standing  army  kept  stationary  under  a 
praetor  for  the  express  purpose  of  suppressing  the  ever- 
recurring  rebellions  of  labor  **  which  were  not  only  in  this 
nation  troublesome  but  had  proved  themselves  at  Sparta 
and  Athens  a  great  source  of  danger.  Besides  this,  Koine 
was  busy  quellieg  similar  disorders  nearer  home.  The 
only  available  force  at  hand  was  the  militia. 

Meanwhile  the  insurgents  were  recruiting  a  powerful 
force  by  tapping  every  resource  that  offered  a  promise  of 
strength.  Among  others,  as  already  noticed,  the  great 
cavern  jails  were  full.  *'  All  through  the  country  these 
workhouses  whether  underground,  in  towns  or  out  on  the 
farms,  were  broken  into  and  emptied,  the  prisoners  ran- 
somed and  those  able  to  bear  arms  welcomed  to  the  army 
of  resistance. 50  Our  principal  resource  whence  we  extract 
these  facts  is  Diodorus  Siculus,  who  wrote  elaborately  on 
the  subject,  often  giving  minute  details;  but  being  an  hon- 
est man  and  writing  of  his  own  native  country,  committed 
what  in  his  times  seems  to  have  been  the  error — though  no 
fault  of  his  conscience — of  telling  the  truth.  We  in  conse- 
quence, as  students  of  sociology  must  charge  against  that 
slave-holding  aristocrcy, "  all  mutilation  of  his  history, 
especially  those  paragraphs  delineating  the  Roman  disaster 

«Liv.    XXIX.      17,    41,    XXXH.    26      XXXIII.    36 

^D'od.     XXXIV.    frag.    ii.    36:        "Kai    rovriav  rods    ft.fv  n-eSais   Jeer/uevW 

eis  ras  a-vi/ep-yaerias  eve'/3aAA«."  Dairiophilus  had  also  made  them  work  in  the 
fields  while  chained. 

6"Diod.  frag.  li.  25    26. 

61  A  .-imilar  outrage  has  been  committed  upon  LH-y's  history  ofSpar- 
tacuR  t  rovtd  l>y  the  «i>itomies  or  bap  er  headings  XCV.  XCVI.  &  XCVJI 
•wh  ch  have  survi  ed  the  wreck  We  give  further  details  01  th  s  disaster 
together  with  that  of  Sallust,  fartheron. 


212  EUNUS. 

which  followed:  for  although  soma  clauses  are  left  com- 
plete others  are  bereft  of  their  treasures  of  priceless  infor- 
mation. A  large  portion  of  the  details,  amounting  in  all,  to 
chapters,  has  apparently  been  sequestered  through  the  van- 
dalism of  contemporaneous  censorship  and  the  inestimable 
manuscripts  disrupted  from  their  historical  chain  covering 
at  least  ten  years  of  this  eventful  rebellion  which  went  far 
toward  shaping  the  notions  of  men  and  preparing  the  world 
for  the  advent  of  a  different  culture. 

At  any  rate  we  have  a  statement  that  not  less  than  60,000 
prisoners  were  delivered  from  the  ergastula62  and  we  know 
that  these  also  joined  the  rebellion.  Everywhere  were 
the  slave-holders  murdered,  and  in  proportion  as  the  more 
desperate  ones  were  delivered  from  bondage  and  fetters,  the 
search  all  over  the  island  to  find  and  exterminate  them  be- 
came more  industrious.  On  the  eastern  side  of  Sicily  were 
magnificent  fields  of  wheat  and  different  grains  and  a  large 
amount  of  pasture  lands  stocked  with  cattle  and  sheep  and 
bearing  prodigious  quantities  of  wine  and  olive  oil.  The 
slave  hordes  now  free,  swept  over  this  country,  murdering 
and  dpstroying  all  before  them,  notwithstanding  the  efforts 
of  Acliseus  at  restraint.  The  story  of  Cambalus,  a  wealthy 
citizc-n  of  Morgantion  in  the  upper  districts  of  Symgethus, 
is  told  M  as  an  exception  to  the  usual  prudence  of  this  com- 
mander :  This  nobleman  while  on  a  hunting  excursion  came 
across  a  band  of  these  prowlers.  Alarmed  at  his  close  prox- 
imity to  the  dangerous  men  he  turned  and  ran  toward  the 
city,  following  the  high  road.  When  near  his  own  home 
he  met  his  father  on  horseback  going  toward  the  danger, 
who  immediately  dismounted  and  begged  the  son  to  mount 
and  save  himself  by  flight.  While  thus  in  filial  and  pater- 
nal love,  tarrying,  neither  deciding  to  take  to  flight,  the  free- 
booters came  up  and  killed  them  both.  M  But  Achseus  gen- 
eral \y  forbade  such  strong  measures.  Wherever  he  heard 


.    Epit.  III.   16.  els'  where  quoted. 

<w  Mann  rt  Geog.  IX.  2;  Cato,  De  Re  Ruslica..  6;  Columella,  De  Re 
Ruztica  III.  2. 

64  Dr.  Btictier,  AnfstHnde  der  unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  61,  extracts  the  story  in 
full:  "Gorgos.  mit  dem  Beinahmen  Kambalos,  eill  durch  seinen  Reiclithum 
und  Edelmut'i  bekaimter  Burger  von  Morgantion  im  Gehiete  des  oberen  Pym- 
at  us  /of?  auf  die  .Tagd  aus  und  stiess  auf  eiiie  S!<lavenbande.  Er  floti  die  St.'-:i«8« 
zur  Stadt  zuriick  und  begegnete  baldseiuem  Vater  der  zu  Pferdedes  Weges  kam 
Dieser  stieg  sofort  ab  und  flehte  den  Sohn  sein  Le  in  zu  retteu.  Der  So  m  hui- 
•wieder  den  Vater  ;  und  wahrend  sie  so  in  dem  Wettstreite  '.indlicher  Liebe  uod 
vaterlicher  Zartlichkeit  sioli  erschopl'ten,  ersc;  ienen  die  Aulriiber  und  er- 
Bchlugen  beide." 


THE   TRAMPS  AND    FREEDMEN.  213 

of  atrocities  committed  by  his  men  he  is  said  to  have  ex- 
erted every -energy  to  prevent  their  recurrence,  appealing  to 
the  danger  should  the  Romans  gain  the  upper  hand.  The 
rebels  began  to  comprehend  that  something  nobler  than 
mere  rage  was  wanted.  They  soon  began  to  be  more  care- 
ful of  the  stores  of  grain  and  other  necessaries.  They 
also  spared  a  large  number  of  the  small  cultivators  who 
had  not  been  active  in  injuring  them. 

There  were  also  great  numbers  of  freedmen,  now  little 
better  than  beggars;  for  as  most  farm  labor  since  the  new 
impetus  of  the  Roman  slave  system  had  set  in,  was  per- 
formed by  slaves,  they  were  obliged  to  beg  because  they 
had  no  work.  These  wretched  tramps,  perceiving  their 
opportunity,  soon  began  to  organize  in  secrecy. M  The 
great  war  now  raged  in  earnest.  The  new  force  of  beg- 
gars who  hitherto  had  been  roaming  in  a  demoralized  con- 
dition do  not  seem  to  have  done  credit  to  the  slaves;  for 
while  they  turned  their  hands  to  destruction  of  property 
and  delivered  themselves  up  to  gluttony,  their  faults  were 
aJl  laid  to  the  slaves.  By  this  circumstance  we  are  made 
aware  that  the  actual  status  of  intelligence  was  higher 
among  the  slave  population  than  the  tramps,  who  had  be- 
come demoralized  and  degraded  through  discouragement 
and  suffering. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  the  Bomans,  tormented  with 
the  terrible  struggles  of  the  proletaries  at  that  moment 
raging  in  Italy  over  the  agrarian  questien,  could  aAvaken 
to  a  full  sense  of  the  situation.  There  was  certainly  some 
provincial  government  at  the  time,  for  mention  is  made  to 
the  effect  that  Roman  praetors5*  then  had  the  province  in 
charge;  but  they  were  both  too  much  enfeebled  by  their 
enormous  wealth  at  Syracuse  or  the  dissipation  concom- 
itant to  it  and  by  their  being  practically  without  a  force 
sufficient  to  the  emergency.  The  insurrection  seems  not 
to  have  been  uniform  in  different  parts.  In  those  days  it 
took  somo  time  for  slaves  to  communicate  with  each  other; 
and  when  that  was  accomplished  there  must  be  time  to 
ponder  over  the  dangerous  experiment  and  prepare  for 
action;  but  it  is  known  that  almost  everywhere  in,  and 

MDiod.  XXXVI.  frag,  v  speaking  of  the  second  war  (sec  chapter  XI ) 
exrressly  states  that  it  was  not  the  slaves  alone  but  also  freednaen.  So  also 
Floras  III  19:  "Cum  liberia  (nelaal;  etingeuuis,  dimJcatum  eet." 

«•  oiioher.  An/it.  S.  61-62. 


214  EUNUS. 

close  about  the  citi<>st  the  uprising  was  general;  for  ev- 
erywhere the  slaves  ran  away  from  their  masters  and  Lur- 
ried to  join  the  Ennian  aria  j. 

Achseus  in  a  short  time  found  himself  master  of  a  well 
equipped  army  of  10,000  men.     He  devoted  his  energies 
to  drilling  these  raw  troops  and  teaching  them  their  new 
business.     We  are  wanting  details  for  showing  the  exact 
dates,  but  the  events  of  which  we  speak,  according  to  the 
close  examination  of  all  material  by  Dr.  Biicher,  make  it 
between  B.  C.  143  and  140. 57    Repeated  skirmishing  took 
place  between  Achseus  and  the  advance  guards  of  the  Ro- 
man praetors  but  as  often  the  latter  were  totally  overthrown. 
Undoubtedly  many  great  and  terribly  bloody  battles  were 
fougVit. M     Certainly  the  results  were  disastrous  to  the  Ro- 
mans; for  tne  territory  of  Eunus'  kingdom  gradually  en- 
larged stretching  over  upper  Symsethus  and  eastward  down 
to  the  sea.     It  also  struck  northward  and  extended  for  a 
considerable  distance  to  the  west.     But  we  hear  of  noth- 
ing having  occurred  in  the  south,  up  to  this  point.69    There 
was  however,  a  great  uprising  there,  soon  to  be  heard  of. 
The  signal  successes  of  Achaeus  had  become  noised  abroad. 
Slaves  everywhere  were  waiting  for  a  leader.     A  new  and 
almost  distinct  strike  was  preparing  to  burst  forth  south- 
ward near  the  coast,  among  the  prod  active. fields  and  pas- 
tures long  celebrated-for  stock-breeding,  especially  that  of 
draft  animals  and  fine  horses.     Along  this  seaboard  no 
harbors  appear.     The  land  lies  in  plateaus,  with  precip- 
itous  steeps  overhanging  the   Mediterranean;   but  the 
levels  above  and  the  occasional  valleys,  are  exceedingly 
fruitful.  "*    It  was  the  celebrated  Agrigentum.    Along  the 
southern  coast  of  Sicily  at  that  time  few  inhabitants  ex- 
isted.    The  old  places  which  had  once  been  occupied  by 
the  colonists  from  Megara  and  Rhodes  had  been  long  de- 
populated. 

Acragus,  well  remembered  by  the  Romans  as  having 

5"  Idem,  Excurz,  "ttber  die  Chronologic  dts  s.cilischen  Sflavenkriege  und 
Verwimdtes  "  S  121-129.  Here  Biieher  gives  data  (which  we  follow,)  show- 
inii  that  it  must  h*ve  been  B  C  143-140  or  the,  first  two  years  before  the 
trmy  of  Acbaeus  amounud  to  10,000  men. 

«8D;od.   XXXIV,   trae.  ii.  Dind. 

«>  Biicher,  Aufst  S  62.  WV  mostly  follow  Biicher's  a  mirable  tracings 
of  th"  '  ar  i'rom  this  po'nt. 

ouStrabo,  Gtog.  VI.;  Cicero.  V*rr  II.  i.'2d;  D'Oroille,  Sicula,  p.  289 • 
Plin.  //  A".  VIII.  64 


CLEON.  215 

withstood,  during  the  Punic  wars  all  those  terrible  vicissi- 
tudes and  had  long  been  inured  to  hardships,  still  main- 
tained itself  and  a  good  share  of  its  population.  It  was 
a  rich  portion  of  the  island  and  large  numbers  of  the  land 
owners  possessed  and  exploited  slaves  who  became  so  nu- 
merous that  they  performed  all  the  labor  leaving  none  for 
the  freedmen  who  were  thus  reduced  to  the  condition  of 
roaming  tramps  and  beggars.  Some  men  owned  500 61  in 
the  earlier  days  and  there  still  existed  very  rich  men  in  the 
city,  holding  large  portions  of  land  and  many  human  crea- 
tures as  chattels.  Here  was  the  seat  of  a  recorded  instance 
of  the  prevailing  cruelties :  One  Polias,  having  invited  to 
dinner  an  equally  heartless  slaveholder,  who  was  unwill- 
ing to  allow  his  slaves  rest  long  enough  to  sleep,  called  to- 
gether his  own,  especially  the  women  and  children,  and  like 
the  animals,  fed  them  nuts  and  dried  figs — the  only  nour- 
ishment they  were  allowed  for  supper.62 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  then,  if  the  slaves  whenever 
opportunity  offered,  ran  away  from  such  masters  and  some- 
times became  cunning  and  dangerous  brigands. 

Another  desperate  character  of  this  war  was  Cleon,  called 
in  Livy,  "Gleon,"  a  Cilician  by  birth,63  from  the  town  of 
Comana  in  the  Taurian  region  of  southern  Asia  Minor.  It 
appenrs  that  he  and  his  brother,  called  "Coma"  by  Valerius 
Maximus  in  his  Memorabilia,™  were  runaway  slaves  who, 
having  betaken  themselves  to  the  mountains  drove  a  maraud- 
ing business  in  the  general  interest  of  their  fellows  still  in 
bonds.  Here  thev  plied  the  arts  of  the  latrocinia  or  high- 
way robbery,  and  stood  ready  to  espouse  the  rebellion  ol 
Eunus  which  was  now  creeping  toward  their  confines.  An- 
other theory  of  Cleon  is  that  like  Spartacus,  he  had  else- 
where learned  to  be  a  robber  but  had  been  seized  by  a  Sicil- 

«i  Siefert,  Sir-ilische  Sklavenkriege.  S.  38. 

«Stobaeu9,  Floril.  LX1I.  48;  Cf.  Bii-her.  64, 

«» Tu  his  note  2.  S.  64.  Dr.  Biicher  reiera  to  Cleon's  birthplace,  as  follows : 
"  DiO<l.  fr.  2,  43:  i\  riav  jrepi  rov  Taupof  roiriav.  Nach §  20  hif-Si  se.nRru- 
dcr  Komanos  (Coma  bet  Valer.  Max.  IX,  12,  lext.istofienbareinSchreib- 
febltr  stall  Cornanus),  woraus  mit  ziemlicher  Sichcrreit  zu  schiessen, 
da*s  Komana  die  Vatcrrtaxlt  rter  beiden  Brtider  war.  Ob  aber  an  die 
pamphyltsclie  Oder  on  die  kappadokiche  Stadt  cltesea  Namens  va.  denken 
act,  nans-*  iinentschieilen  gelysaen  wenlen.  Letztere,  inmifter.  des  Anti- 
tauros  am  Saros  gclegen,  war  eine  Ilaupstiitte  «'cs  den  syrisehi-n  Diens- 
icn  vc'.wuiidifn  C'lltus  der  Ma  (Artemis  Tautlca) Strabo  XII. p. 535;  inaa 
\vuidc  tlauo  ilcn  Bcwcg^rund  fur  den  rasthen  Ansclilns-<  Kleons  nn  K.i- 
DUS  in  '•t-Hgtosi-r  Suporatition  zu  suclien  habt-D 

XXXIV.  fiag.  ii.  20&43. ;  Vulerius  Maximum,  IX.  U;  Slet,  n.  i\>. 


216  EUNUS. 

ian  coreair  and  brought  over  to  this  place  where  he  was  sold 
in  slavery  and  set  to  work  herding  horses  in  the  pastures, 
whence  he  escaped  and  made  himself  the  terror  of  the  re- 
gion, playing  his  old  pranks  with  success.  But  this  theory 
fails  to  account  for  his  brother. 

By  some  means  C'eon,  who  had  a  strong  band  ever  on 
the  alert,  heard  of  the  great  movement  of  Eunus  at  Enna. 
The  distance  was  certainly  not  so  great  bat  that  they  could 
have  held  correspondence ;  especially  after  the  forces  of 
Achseijs  had,  by  victory  after  victory  over  the  praetorian 
militia,  cleared  the  obstacles  away. 

Cleon  on  hearing  the  particulars  of  the  insurrection, 
ran  up  the  flag  of  open  rebellion  and  offered  freedom  to 
all  slaves  who  should  espouse  his  cause.  The  mighty 
name  he  had  already  won  went  far  toward  deciding  in- 
numerable slaves.  Everywhere  these  Agrigentine  bonds- 
men responded  to  the  shrill  bugles  of  Cleon.  As  fast  as 
they  came  into  camp  he  armed  and  drilled  them  for  ser- 
vice. Battles  must  have  followed  for  we  find  him  in  pos- 
session of  the  city.  The  two  most  powerful  captains  of 
the  rebellion  now  stood  over-against  each  other,  both  hav- 
ing won  battles,  undoubtedly  important  ones;  for  as  our 
details  are  missing  and  the  leading  points  preserved,  we 
are  left  to  our  imagination  in  making  up  the  links  in  the 
chain  of  history.  It  was  now  the  hope  of  the  rich  own- 
ers that  these  rough  commanders  would,  though  at  first 
victorious,  soon  have  a  falling  out ;  that  jealousy  would 
prove  a  quicker  means  of  ridding  them  of  their  now  ter- 
rible enemy  than  their  own  opposition ;  for  such  were  the 
proportions  of  this  uprising  that  Cleon  soon  counted  up- 
wards of  70,000  men. 66  With  such  an  army  it  was  reason- 
ably conjectured  that  he  would  not  long  submit  to  a  sub- 
ordinate  position  under  Eunus.  Biicher  in  assuring  us 
that  the  reverse  was  the  case,  **  suggests  that  the  cause 
of  the  perfect  harmony  known  to  have  existed  may  have 
been  Cleon's  superstitious  faith  in  the  infalibilty  of  Eunus 
as  a  mediator  for  poor  humanity  between  God  and  man  ; 

«6L1vy,  LVI.  >:C.  Ful  -'o  Consuli  mandatnm  est,  hnjus  belli  inttinm 
fuit  EunvH  servu.-',  natione  Syru<;  qui  contracts  agre.-tiuin  servorum  manu 
e,t  solutis  ergastulis  justi  exerctus  nun.ei-um  implevit.  Gleon  qnoque,  alter 
eervus,  ad  septuaginta  miliia  tcn'orum  contraxit :  « tcopiis  junctis  adver- 
BUS  populi  RomanI  exereitum  Lelluni  sffipe  gtsserunt." 

««  Buclier,  Aufst,  S.  65. 


CLEON'S   SEVENTY   THOUSAND.      COALITION.    217 

it  being  fully  believed  that  he  was  a  Messiah. 6T  This 
might  have  done  much,  but  the  fact  that  they  knew  that 
in  the  absence  of  perfect  harmony  their  own  lives  would 
certainly  be  speedily  lost,  together  with  their  cause,  is  the 
more  probable  solution  to  this  problem.  Cleon  accepted  a 
position  of  what,  in  our  military  terms,  may  be  called  a 
brigadier  general,  of  the  grand  army  under  Eunus,  or  ra- 
ther under  Achseus,  lieutenant-general  to  Eunus  ;  and  the 
force  assigned  him  was  only  5,000  men. 

The  two  armies  of  the  great  mutiny  against  capital  be- 
came thus  consolidated  into  one.  It  is  stated  by  Livy 
that  in  Agrigentuin  alone  there  were  70,000  men  under 
arms ;  **  and  we  have  seen  that  Achseus  already  had  a 
large,  victorious  force.  Thus  the  combined  armies  stead- 
ily grew  in  numbers  and  discipline.  This  immense  force 
was  divided  up  between  many  leaders  ;  Eunus  being  the 
Commander-in-chief  with  Achgeus  and  soon  afterwards  Cle- 
on, the  two  principal  lieutenants. 

The  armies  stretched  from  Enna  to  Agrigentum  and  a 
wing  extended  south  and  eastward  to  the  sea — perhaps  as 
far  eastward  as  Syracuse.  Soon  after  these  arrangements 
were  accomplished  the  new  prsetor  arrived  in  Sicily  with 
an  army  of  well  equipped  Roman  soldiers  consisting  of 
8,000  men.  How  many  stragglers  of  those  demoralized 
forces  whom  Achgeus  had  often  punished  and  dispersed, 
came  to  swell  the  freshly  landed  army  of  this  prsetor,  L. 
Plautius  Hypsseus,69  does  not  appear.  But  Dr.  Siefert, 
on  the  strength  of  a  statement  of  a  fragment,  says  that  no 
regular  troops  accompanied  Hypsseus  from  Rome. 

Hostilities  south  now  became  general.  The  Roman  did 
not  have  long  to  wait  A  force  of  20,000  slaves  probably 
of  both  Achseus  and  Cleon  met  him,  fully  inspired  with 
the  supernatural  powei's  of  their  fire-spitting  king,  as  well 
as  burning  with  old  hatred  and  a  desire  to  settle  accounts 
with  their  enemies.  A  great  battle  was  fought.  Hyp- 
sseus was  utterly  routed  and  ruined;  and  the  rebels  were 
left  masters  of  the  field. 

^Floras,  III.  19,  4:  "Syru3  quirtam  nomine  Eunus  fanatico  furore 
eimulatu  duin  S3'riae  deae  comas  jactat,  ad  libertatem  et  arraas  sei  vos,  quasi 
numerum  raper-urn  concita.it;  idque  ut  divinitu?  fieri  probaret,  in  ore 
abclita  nuce,  quam  sulphure  et  igne  stipaverat,  ieniter  inspiraus,  fl.uumam 
fmidebat." 

*'Liv.  L.VI.  Epil.  ad  ftn. ;    See  quotation  in  note  (55. 

^Dioct.  frag,  ii .  18.  Tfii;-  13  probal/ly  arcmi:ant  of  a  full  statement 
tow  mostly  lost. 


218  EUNUS. 

The  news  of  this  additional  victory  spread  rapidly  and 
those  slaves  who  had  hitherto  hesitated,  now  flocked  to  the 
insurgent  army,  soon  swelling  it  to  the  almost  incredible 
magnitude  of  200,000  men.  The  language  of  our  infor- 
mation is,  however,  too  assuring  to  warant  us  in  dallying 
over  doubts ;  for  not  only  do  the  ancient  authorities  give 
these  figures  but  we  also  find  the  strong  reinforcement  of 
the  modern  philological  critics  who  make  no  hesitation  in 
pronouncing  it  to  be  true. 70  The  people  at  Rome  enter- 
tained hopes  that  the  force  under  Hypsseus  would  be  of 
sufficient  strength  to  put  down  the  rebellion ;  but  as  time 
wore  by,  straggling  remnants  of  the  shattered  army  ver- 
ified a  dismal  fear  that  great  disasters  had  befallen  them ; 
otherwise  the  gloomy  news  of  the  expedition  was  lost. 

Other  expeditions  soon  followed  the  sad  one  just  men- 
tioned. As  we  know  that  in  a  similar  rebellion  by  Sparta- 
ens  some  70  years  later,  the  armies  of  Rome  were  large, 
so  in  reason,  we  cannot  imagine  them  to  have  been  small 
in  Sicily.  Time  and  other  despoilers  have  deprived  us,  it 
is  true,  of  many  details,  in  histories  we  know  to  have  been 
written.  But  enough  remains  to  attest  the  enormous  pro- 
portions of  the  Sicilian  labor  rebellion  and  the  success  that 
everywhere  attended  the  arms  of  the  workingmen.  C, 
Fulvius  Flaccus,  consul,  appears  next  to  have  come  to  the 
scene ;  his  colleague  Scipio  Africanus  going  to  Numantia. 
This  commander  was  however,  preceded  by  a  certain  Man- 
lius,  mentioned  in  the  fragments  of  Diodorus  referred  to. 
He,  like  his  predecessors  was  annihilated.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  this  word  applies  here  in  its  literal  sense. 
So  complete  was  the  extinction  that  scarcely  a  human  be- 
ing ever  returned  to  convey  intelligence  of  the  disaster  to 
Rome.  Then  followed  Lentulus,  afterwards  Piso  and  Ru- 
pillius.  Whenever  the  Romans  gained  an  advantage  by 
dint  of  superior  military  skill  they  lost  it  through  the  over- 
whelming and  ever  increasing  numbers  of  the  slaves,  who 
in  addition  to  their  own  manufacture  of  arms  and  muni- 
tions of  war  which  they  forced  the  freedmen-mechanics  " 
of  Sicily  to  accomplish  for  them,  turned  all  the  splen- 

"o  Bii?h  S.  65:  "Bald  betrug  sib  srer/en  200,000  Lente;"  also  S.  126: 
"Nichr  lange  nachher  beliiuft  «ich  die  Zahl  der  Anfstandischen  inssepammt, 
Soldaten,  ^ensenmiinner,  und  Dnnerustoto,  auf  200.000,  "unrt  in  vieien  Krie- 
gen  kampfen  sie  cliicklich,  neltener  crleiden  sic  N 


THE   FEROCIOUS  NECESSITY.  219 

did  weapons  wrested  from  the  defeated  warriors  of  the 
Roman  nobility  to  their  own  uses  and  grew  invincible.  ** 

No  prisoners  were  spared.  Eunus  had  undoubtedly  re- 
solved upon  this  plan  from  the  first.  He  killed  Antigenes 
his  owner,  also  Python,  with  his  own  hand,  both  of  whom 
he  had  promised  a  "cheap  deal,"  and  spared  the  friends  of 
the  festivities  as  we  have  related,  only  as  a  matter  of  faith 
vith  his  word.  He  had  opened  all  the  dungeons  of  the 
ergastula  which  confined  many  who  labored  in  those  grot- 
toes. What  more  could  they  want  of  those  disgusting 
holes  ?  No.  With  them  there  was  no  lingering  prisoner 
To  be  taken  prisoner  was  to  die — a  ferocious  necessity ! 
Besides  these  barbarous  economies,  they  possessed  the 
remarkable  negligence  of  the  Romans  which  had  struck 
into  Sicily  at  the  time  of  the  defeat  and  final  evacuation 
of  the  island  by  the  Carthagenians,  in  B.  C.  210.  Every- 
where the  walls  of  cities  and  other  fortified  places  were 
battered  down,  and  left  mouldering  in  disuse  and  every- 
where was  found  unhindered  admission  to  the  cities,  the 
storehouses  and  the  citadels. 7S  Much  of  the  success  of 
their  phenomenal  marches  was  attributed  to  the  super- 
natural powers  of  king  Eunus. 

They  believed  themselves  invincible ;  and  as  time  wore 
on,  year  after  year  of  undiminished  prosperity  apparently 
fortified  this  belief.  Eunus  once  led  his  victorious  forcea 
before  one  of  the  few  fortified  places  that  attempted  to 
•withstand  him  and  to  the  besieged  inhabitants  spoke  with 
bitter  irony,  denying  that  he  was  even  the  cause  of  the 
trouble,  or  his  men  in  rebellion.  On  the  contrary,  they 
themselves  by  their  former  atrocities,  had  driven  them  to 
a  compulsory  step  which  they  little  desired  to  take.  In 
full  consciousness  of  their  enemy's  helplessness  and  the 
stinging  remembrance  of  their  former  sufferings,  they 
made  a  great  show  of  their  triumphs,  parading  the  now 
emancipated  revolutionists  in  pompous  formality  and  for- 

71  This  fact  mast  bs  considered  as  applying  to  a  certain  number  of  freed- 
men  denominated  by  the  modern  labor  organization**  Scabs,  who  had  made 
themselves  obnoxious  by  an  obsequious  catering  to  masters  ;  for  we  find 
that  a  few  years  later  (see  Athenion,  chapter  y.)  there  were  great  numbers. 
O!  free  artisans  who  espoused  the  cause  of  the  slaves  and  took  up  arms 
tcladly  in  the  defense  of  a  common  cause. 

•*Bucher,  Aufsi.  S.  66"Wuideanch  elnen  kleinen  Erfols?  errungen, 
im  niiclisten  Augenhllcke  rafl'te  sicli  der  Auf  stand  nut  doppeltpr  Wutli  zu- 
earn  men  and  drang  unauthaltsam  u;  u  {.ruueaui,  wie  alle  iocialeu  Kric-ge, 
weiier." 

•>•  Consult  Diod.  XXXIV.  frag.  ii.  45. 


220  EUNUS. 

eing  the  reluctant  to  hear  the  history  of  the  causes  of  it,  M 
'through  mock  theatrical  representations  in  mimic  compo- 
sition, as  was  practiced  in  Syria  the  fatherland  of  Eunus. 
This  practice  referred  to  by  Diodorus, 75  no  doubt  has  ref- 
erence to  the  great  labor  unions  called  the  eranoi,  or  bet- 
ter, their  branch,  the  thiasoi, 76  a  part  of  whose  duty  was 
to  provide  entertainment  for  the  members.  It  is  known 
that  mimic  entertainments  of  a  histrionic  character  were 
frequently  among  the  programs  of  amusement.  "There 
was"  says  Dr.  Biicher,  "more  than  one  bitter  drop  spilled 
into  the  bowl  of  misery  at  such  seiges;  since  overturned 
riches,  unbridled  rapine,  purposless  power,  appeared  to 
gentlemen  to  be  the  cause  of  their  destruction ;  it  was 
in  fact,  a  practical  lesson  against  the  will  of  these  compul- 
sory listeners  to  mimic  tragedies,  which,  like  every  other 
lesson  where  the  spirit  is  against  its  learning,  is  fruitless 
and  unheeded."  " 

The  bitter  and  bloody  conflict  of  this  great  mutiny  of 
the  working  people  of  Sicily  had  now  been  raging  about 
6  years  with  the  prophet  of  Antioch  at  its  head.  The  mil- 
itary force  of  Rome  such  as  she  could  spare,  had  been  ex- 
hausted again  and  again  in  efforts  to  regain  her  foothold 
in  Sicily,  but  in  vain.  The  slaves  were  at  last  masters  of 
the  island.  Here,  by  a  most  fortunate  circumstance,  the 
lacerated  history  of  Diodorus  remains  so  unbroken  in  this 
particular  link  as  to  explicitly  transmit  this  truth ;  and  in 
words  which  cannot  well  be  misunderstood. 78  Diodorus, 
though  his  veracity  has  long  lain  in  abeyance,  has  outlived 
his  calumniators,  and  great  savants,  having  proved  the 
truth  of  statements  by  his  pen  which  for  many  centuries 
lay  in  ridicule,  are  now  searching  for  them  as  being  those 
most  valuable  in  critical  use. 

Besides  the  cities  mentioned,  there  were  many  on  the 
east  coast  of  the  island  which  also,  one  by  one,  joined  the 
army  of  the  revolutionists.  Some  of  them,  it  is  known, 
were  taken  by  force.  Others  offered  themselves  to  the 
conquerors,  partly  through  their  own  wish,  partly  from  a 

ttTd.   fracr.  11.  it  Id.  84. 

tf>  See  Luders,  Die  Dionys.  Ktinstler,  Tafeln  I-II.    Also  Infra,  chap.  xvii. 

H  Aaf.it.  d.  UTtfoeien  Jii belter,  S.  67. 

'8  Diod.  XXXIV.  frag.  ii.  §  25.  "Oufien-ore  trracrts  eyeVero  njAtKavn;  Sov\<av 
nXtKT)  (rvviirrn  iv  T7J  StKeAta,  fit  r)v  woAAoi  ft.ev  woAets  Seii'ai?  7r«pie7re<roi'  (rvjiMopai?, 
avapi'O/aiijTOt  fi«  |avSpes  itai  yvvaiices  jiera  rtKi-iav  eTtfipaSijtrav  rtav  (Hfyiariav  o- 
TVxr/j«.aT<i»',  iratra.  fie  »j  vijcros  eKt.v&vvevo't  rtftlv  «ts  efovcriav  SpaneniaV'" 


ALL  SICILY  CAPTURED  BY  THE  SLAVES.      221 

dread  of  sack  and  pillage.  "9  Among  these  were  Tauro- 
manion  and  Catana,  the  place  of  refuge  for  the  daughter 
of  Damophilus  and  Megallis.  As  to  Syracuse, 80  the  great 
and  long  celebrated  capital  of  Sicily,  seat  of  the  former 
proud  tyrants,  home  of  Dion,  Plato's  friend,  and  center 
of  the  mechanical  sciences  of  Archimides,  the  city  whose 
hills  were  quarried  and  pierced  into  horrid  dungeons — the 
suffocating  latomies,  where  workingmeu  by  thousands,  un- 
comforted  and  forgotten,  had  worked  and  smothered  for 
painful  centuries  to  the  delight  of  monsters  such  as  Di- 
onysius  ; — as  to  this  formidable  theatre  of  the  lapicidinae, 
we  are  so  far  informed  as  to  be  able  to  say  with  a  degree 
of  certainty,  that  also  this  haughty  mistress  of  the  Med- 
iterranean fell  before  the  rebel  arms. 81 

Messana  to  the  north,  had  been  least  abusive  to  these 
people  when  in  bondage,  and  in  consequence  was  spared. 
Yet  even  Messana  made  a  strong  resistance  ;  for  situated 
on  the  strait  separating  Sicily  from  Italy,  an  important 
pivotal  position  by  being  almost  as  much  Italian  as  Sicil- 
ian, it  at  last  gave  way. 83 

The  capture  of  this  important  seaport  and  stronghold 
was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  uprising  or  strike  of  the 
slaves  and  other  working  people,  in  large  numbers,  over 
on  the  Italian  side,  of  which  we  give  an  account  in  another 
place.  M 

J»Strabo.  Geog.     VI;    Diod.  frag.    ii.   20,    Oro3ing,  V.  9. 

so  From  Di  odor  us  we  have  one  tattered  fra»ment  (ii.  9,)  which  makes 
It  probable  that  Syracuse  ulso  iell  ii  10  the  reoels'  grasp. 

si  Elsewhere  we  h-ve  endeavored  to  show  that  th-  re  existed  some  un- 
explained reason  for  Plato's  siransje  experience  amoitic  the  fishermen  of 
Syracuse  and  the  motives  ot  D  onysius  in  uauislr.nghim  thither.  P.atowas 
bated  by  the  workinamcn.  The  nsnermen  anionir  whom  he  was  relegated 

Bfirtamlv  Wftrp  nr<;sin  zprl  •    anrt  t.hf»v  wf>re  in  gvnnathv  w.tli  thf>  mfircenarv 


r— y_.™V  avfidiopals    7reoi6pdA«7O    TO  c    -oA^t/)<rai'Tas  rrpQ<riVfyKu<rdcu.     iff  pi  _, 

*2  Orosius,  Historiarum  Lilri  Adw&us  fagnnos,  V.6,  9;     Jull  i«  Oh  o- 
quens,  £)e  Pxodigiis,  I.    1.  « Consult  eiiaptei  iac.  //i^ra 


222  EUNUS. 

The  terrible  scuffle  into  which  Rome  was  drawn,  during 
these  momentous  times,  together  with  the  murder  of  Ti- 
berius Gracchus,84  in  B.  C.  133,  show  how  this  mighty  peo- 
ple were  paralyzed  by  the  labor  problem  of  that  century. 
But  with  the  death  of  this  powerful  tribune  and  faithful 
friend  of  the  poor,  the  fortunes  of  the  victorious  Eunus 
crumbled.  The  real  but  hidden  cause  of  the  compara- 
tively unobstructed  career  which  had  now  held  him  king 
of  Sicily  fully  10  years,  was  probably  not  Rome's  inability 
to  cope  with  him  in  military  force  and  tactics ;  it  was  her 
social  and  political  demoralization.  It  was  an  interreg- 
num of  wills; — whether  paganism  should  continue  its  reck- 
less course  against  nature,  against  justice,  against  human 
development,  and  cover  the  earth  with  slaves,  or  whether 
a  revolution  against  it  should,  in  defiance  of  its  haughty 
and  despotic  predilections  and  unbridled  greed,  be  sub- 
mitted to.  When  we  look  back  at  the  astonishing  con- 
quest of  Eunus  and  of  his  generals  and  men  from  this 
point  of  view  we  shall  see  the  waves  of  the  phenomena  of 
Rome's  final  downfall  then  and  there  begun,  roll  back, 
together  with  many  another  dark  political  obscurity. 

Gracchus  was  not  yet  dead,  but  still  in  the  vortex  of 
his  anti-slavery  land  agitation,  spurred  on  by  Blossius  his 
devoted  friend.  C.  Calpurnius  Piso  was  one  of  the  con- 
suls chosen  for  that  year.  On  him  devolved  the  command 
in  Sicily.  He  arrived  at  Messana  with  a  large  force  and 
finding  it  in  possession  of  the  slaves,  laid  siege  to  the  city. 
After  a  severe  storming  the  place  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Romans.  As  many  as  8,000  slaves  were  slain  and  the 
prisoners  captured  were  all  crucified.  Piso  was  a  man  of 
much  nerve  and  business  energy,  combined  with  judg- 

•*  Plutarch.  Tib.  Gracchus,  9-14;  Appian,  De  Belli!  Civilibus,  lib.  I.  9: 
*M«^pt  Ti|3epiO9  Sc/biirpuflO?  Tpa.K\os,  avijp  ejru^orijs,  icai  Aa/nirpbs  «  iJuAoTifiiav, 
civetf  ft  SwaTioraTos,  icai  e<c  rloi'Se  bfiov  na.vr<av  yv<apin<aTa.Tos  awacri  5r)Aiap\a)i', 
«cr«^voAoyij<7e  irepiroC  "IraAticoC  ytvovs,  <os  eiiTroAe/auTarov  re  icai  <ruyyfvov<;,  </>0eipo- 
fiivov  Si  KCLT'  b\iyov  «s  airopiav  icai  bkiyavSpiav,  icai  ovSe  eAirifia  CXOCTOS  es  ciidp- 
0u<riv.  'Eiri  Sf  rta  Sov\iK<a  Sua'xepai'as,  <os  aorpaTevTiii,  xai  OUTTOTC  es  iecrTrora?  Trirrep, 
To  Ivayyos  eirr/vtyKtv  fv  SiKcyi'a  Sf(nroT<av  Traflos  VTTO  BepatrovTiav  yfVOfifvov,  7)vf TJ- 
fiivtav  Kaxtiviav  O.TTO  •yeupyias.  icai.  TO*'  eir'  avTOV9  "Pia^aiiav  iroAefiOf,  ov  pa£tov, 
ovSe  fipaxiiv,  aAA"  Is  rt  fiijico;  \povov,  KOI  TpOTTas  mv&vviav  irociciAa5  exrpairevTa. 
TavTa  St  eiirwv,  aveKaiVt^e  TOV  voy-ov'  MrjfieVa  TCOV  vevraxo^itav  nkiOptav  v\(ov 
•Xtiv.  llaio-i  5'  aiiTwv,  tijrtp  litv  iraAatoi'  vofiov  irpo<reri@fi  To  ^(xitrta  irovriav'  KOI  7T)P 
Aoiiri}!',  tptiv  aiperou?  ac£pvs,  eva.hk.a.craonevovs  Kar'  €TO5,  Siove/neir  vois  Trevrjo-i'" 
Wordsworth.  Fraymenis  of  Early  Laiin.  p.  221.  We  h»ve  in  tl'6  precedinsr 
chapter,  giving  an  account  of  the  ?rent  epedt-mic  of  str.kes  und  u  lis'iiys 
Which  were  occurring  almost  everywhere  in  the  Rom  n  territory,  caut-^d 
entirely  by  a  profound  and  honest  ciissatisfactioiamo,  g  the  laboring  ei.plr. 


TIBERIUS  SEMPRONIUS    GRACCHUS.         223 

ment.  In  addition  to  this,  he  must  have  had  a  large  army. 
All  we  possess  of  the  facts  are  hints  touching  the  main 
-events ;  the  particulars  are  left  to  be  drawn  by  inference. 
Certain  it  is  that  his  force  was  large  enough  to  assure  him 
in  the  bold  adventure  of  attacking  Enna ;  and  judging  by 
comparison  with  the  magnitude  of  the  Roman  armies  af- 
terwards sent  to  subdue  Spartacus,  M  he  could  not  have 
had  fewer  than  75,000  or  100,000  men.  Considering  the 
results  positively  known,  it  may  be  no  boldness  to  pre- 
sume that  his  army  was  at  least  80,000  strong. 

The  insurrectionary  armies  on  the  other  hand,  were, 
v.-ithout  doubt,  greatly  demoralized  by  their  hitherto  un- 
failing successes.  They  were  now  no  longer  slaves,  but  a 
host  of  ignorant  and  superstitious  freedmeu  regaling  un- 
hindered in  wantonness  and  luxury,  having  had  10  years 
of  security,  constantly  under  the  delusion  that  king  Eu- 
nus,  if  not  himself  an  immortal,  was  at  least  in  daily  inter- 
course with  Ceres,  whom  nobody  dared  imagine  to  be  less 
than  the  powerful  protecting  goddess  of  that  island. 
Thus  fortified  in  delusions  confirmed,  they  had  in  course  of 
these  ten  years  of  good  fortune,  begun  to  relax  their  vig- 
ilance, leaving  to  the  supernatural,  the  power  which  alone 
their  own  strong,  well-directed  arms  could  accomplish. 
Things  were  in  consequence,  now  in  perfect  readiness  for 
Home  to  triumph  over  the  rebellion. 

Piso,  instead  of  waiting  to  skirmish  with  the  generals 
of  Eunus,  marched  directly  to  his  stronghold.  It  was  a 
bold  strike ;  and  affords  us  an  excellent  exhibit  of  his  cour- 
age and  judgment.  He  was  no  communist ;  and  an  in- 
stance proving  this  is  recorded  which  clearly  shows  that 
socialistic  theories  were  being  discussed  in  those  ancient 
days,  by  rich  and  poor :  In  the  fierce  struggle  which  re- 
sulted in  the  murder  of  the  Gracchi,  this  same  Piso  said  to 
one  of  these  stanch  advocates  of  the  rights  of  labor,  as  he 
railed  against  the  growing  spirit  of  equality  threatening 
extinction  to  the  proud  Roman  gens  and  making  inroads 
upon  the  tribunes  and  the  senate:  "It  is  not  with  my  will 
and  consent  that  you  desire  to  divide  your  property ;  but 
should  you  do  so  I  shall  demand  my  share."  M  The  slaves 
were  socialists,  enjoying  their  booty  in  common ;  and  it 

*  See  chapter  xi.    Helena. 

Tusculinarum  Di-putationm  L'bri    III.    20,49. 


224  EUNUS. 

could  not  be  expected  that  any  leniency  would  be  shown 
them  by  Piso. 

According  to  our  authority,  Piso,  after  the  capture  of 
Messana,  turned  his  campaign  directly  toward  Eurms' 
sitadel  on  the  heights  of  Enna.  A  captain  of  cavalry  led 
his  force  too  incautiously  and  got  into  an  ambush  laid  by 
the  mutineers  where  he  met  with  some  logs  in  arms,  men 
and  horses.  Piso  singled  him  out  as  a  coward.  He  was 
humiliated,  and  barefoot  and  almost  naked,  obliged  to 
star  d  before  the  tent  as  a  watch,  forbidden  to  speak  with- 
his  comrades  or  to  enjoy  his  baths.  Those  left  of  the 
defeated  cavalry  were  ordered  to  give  up  their  horses  and 
go  into  the  company  of  slingers.  "  The  object  of  this  se- 
vere measure  was  to  thoroughly  impress  the  Roman  sol- 
diers with  the  almost  deadly  results  to  them,  of  a  failure 
through  disobedience  or  lack  of  bravery.  On  the  other 
hand,  bolh  leaders  and  rank  and  file  were  rewarded  for  an 
act  of  valcr.  Valerius  Maximus 88  also  tells  a  story  of  Pi- 
eo's  own  son,  who  for  having  performed  some  meritorious 
act  in  this  campaign,  was  awarded  a  golden  cross  weigh- 
three  pounds,  which  he  was  requested  by  his  father  to  pre- 
serve and  wear  after  he  had  returned  to  Rome  and  it  had 
been  publicly  presented.  This  had  the  effect  to  fill  the 
minds  of  all  with  emulation,  adding  dash  and  intrepidity 
while  doubtlebs  dispelling  a  superstitious  fear  of  the  long 
victorious  slaves. 

At  last  the  Roman  legions  arrived  before  the  walls  of 
Enna  and  immediately  laid  siege.  "We  are  indebted  to 
Lr.  Biicher's  invaluable  dissertation,  referring  us  to  Dr. 
Eockh's  inscriptions  often  ueed  by  us;  for  without  his 
mention  we  might  ha\e  missed  certain  palseographs  that 
sled  light  upon  the  otherwise  unwritten  pages  of  Piso's 
s:ege  cf  Enna. 89  On  the  northern  steep  of  the  city  is  a 
gnat  rock  from  which  the  slave  women  flung  headlong 
the  living  form  oi  Megallis,  vife  of  Ltmcphilus.90  To 

«"  Valerius  Maximum  Fact.  Diet.  iltm.  II.  7  9.  ««/<?.  IV.  3, 10 

88  Buck.  Aujst&nde.  S.74.  note  1  reads  :  'Ritchl.  P.  L.  M.  Till.  I -.Corp. 
Inscriptionwn  Latinamm.  (Booth) |no.  642  eq.  vg).  Kitsch  a.  a.  O.  Seite 
249.  Aus  tiem  zwiiteii  Sicilltchen  Aufstance  :  Corp.  Inscr.  Grcec.  Bockli 
No.  f670,  6687,  6748,  z.  Th.  niit  dem  Kamen  des  Arhenion.  No.  6748an» 
Leontinimit  der  Aufschrift  APAMEO  geht  Aielleicht  auf  dem  APAJ1FEK 
Eimus.  Corp.  Intc.  Lot  ATo  646.  Sq.  stammen  •wohl  ans  rem  Ffchie  - 
krieg-"  We  however  subjoin  the  remark  thnt  Diodorus  mentions  Ather.ion 
as  having  likewise  been  of  Apamea— a  point  which  the  leari;ecl  pliiio- 
logist  may  have  overlooked. 

9oS«B«nrr«nt  chanter,  page  215 


THE   SIEGE  OF  ENNA.  225 

this  day  there  are  occasionally  fourd,  OB  and  about  this 
rock,  balls  from  the  Roman  catapults  which  were  hurled 
at  the  walls  of  the  teleagered  city  during  that  siege,*1 
These  relics  of  Roman  projectiles  have  the  name,  L.  Piso 
inscribed  upon  them ;  as  they  are  found  in  quantities, n 
the  circumstance  goes  far  to  attest  the  prodigious  mag- 
nitude of  the  siege,  as  well  as  the  great  length  of  time 
that  must  have  been  consumed  before  the  place  fell  into 
the  Roman  consul's  hands  In  fact,  it  did  not  fall  before 
the  sword  oi  Pi>  o.  He  was.  in  seme  mysterious  manner, re- 
pulsed; being  probably  it  any  times  attacked  and  repelled 
by  the  sorties  of  Cleon.  At  last  he  is  found  in  the  nar- 
rative back  on  the  east  coast  having  without  a  shadow  of 
doubt,  been  driven  there  by  the  slave-king. 

In  B.  C.  132,  P.  Rupilius  was  chosen  consul  at  Rome.  As 
just  hinted,  Piso  had  met  with  some  unchronicled  disaster 
at  the  hands  of  the  stubborn  rebels  of  Eunus,  who  had  in 
their  turn,  taken  the  offensive  and  surged  him  back  to 
the  sea. w  Rupilius  had  already  held  office  in  Sicily  under 
a  joint  stock  company  and  had  made  a  large  fortune  in 
the  capacity  of  a  land  speculator.  During  his  official  life 
there  he  had  acquired  a  good  knowledge  of  the  roads  and 
principal  objective  points  of  the  island.  **  It  was  this  same 
jRupilius  who,  with  Popilejus  Laenus,  urged  arid  in  some 
degree  consummated  the  persecutions  of  Gracchus,  whose 
revival  of  the  ancient  Liciniun  law  and  whose  socialistic 
oratory  had  enraged  the  land  and  slave-holding  aristocracy 

"Bockh.  C.  I.  L.  Tios.  642,4616?  C.  I.  G.  6570.5687,5738;  Rifehl. 
Plautuf,  VIII.  1.  Bockh,  C.  /.  L.  5748  g  ves  the  word  APAMEO  i.  e  :  'Eunus 
of  Apamea  "  It  may  mean  Athen  cm  of  Apamea,  however;  but  botli  were 
powerful  labor  agitators. 

«  Flinv,  NH.  VII.   36;    Cic.  Tu  c.  IV.  17.40;    Lcel.  10,  20,  73,  69. 

•'  BiicU.  Auftt.  D.  un/r.  Arb.  S.  73. 

s*  Valerius  Maximus,  Fattorum  Dictontmqiie  Jftmorabitia,  lib.  VI.  9,  8- 
Si'ffri  Enter  sicilitch.  Sklaven'.rug  S.  35,  note  57,  "Psendoascon,  in  Verr. 
II  ],.  -^12:  P.  Rnp.liua  quondam  ex  publicano  iV.ctus  consul.  Valer.  Max.  VI, 
9.  8  erxiihlt  spga*-,  da*B  or  ur.apriingiicri,  ein  Diener  der  Staatspachter  gewesen 
§ei  •  )'.  Rni  ili'is  non  pubiiotnnrn  in  Sicilia  egn,  sed  operas  pul  hcanis  dedit 
Idoni  nit  imam  inopifm  snam,  anctoia'o  sociis  offlcio,  su*ten'avit  — Er  war  ein 
Freund  ties  jlingern  Sapio  Cic  Lat-1  19.  AI»  Consul  I'iitirtc  er  zu  Aniang 
•einea  Amt^jahrib  mit  seiuem  Coliegcn  Popillius  Laenas  die  Unfersuchung 
jte^en  die Mitcchnld :gan  des  'lib  (iriicchns>  ((  ic.  Lael.  11,  Val.Max.  IV.  7,  1). 
Nach  Vellei  Pat  11,7  wurde  er  wegen  der  Str^n^e,  mit  welcher  diese  Unter- 
Kiicb'.mL;  t'-  ftihrt  wurde,  j;le  rh  Popillins  vor  Oeriekt  KCZ*  gen,  wahrendandere 
Schiif-teiler  iinr  von  d  r  Verfo!gui:g  des  Letztern  dnich  C.  Graccus  ?preclien. 
V^!  J'nul-.t't  UE  V.  1900.  Er  «-iu:ete  spater  pliitzlich  aus  Aerger  uud  ^chreck 
xii't-r  ok-  mis-lunizenv  B(-werbung  t"  ires  Binders  nm  •  as  Consulat.  Cic.  Tiigc. 
l\,  17.  Irrthtimlich  nennt  Ubrigena  Florus  III,  19  den  Per^erna  ala  den  Be- 
tieger  der  fcklaven." 


226  EUNUS. 

of  Rome  to  a  high  pitch  and  caused  his  murder  by  a  mob 
of  the  nobility  the  year  before,  while  Piso  was  vainly  be- 
sieging Eunus  at  Enna.  Such  a  man  would  therefore, 
naturally  be  selected  by  them  as  a  proper  person  to  con- 
fide in,  if  sent  to  quell  the  great  uprising  of  their  chattels 
in  Sicily,  It  does  not  appear  however,  that  Rupilius  as- 
sumed command  of  Piso's  army  immediately  on  his  elec- 
tion to  the  consulship.  But  that  he  superseded  him 95  is 
certain;  for  his  trouble  with  the  uureliableness  of  his  own 
troops  is  spoken  of  by  a  number  of  the  old  writers.  %  A 
son-in-law  of  Kupilius,  Q.  Fabius,  eommander-in-chief  of 
a,  division  of  Piso's  army,  had  been  defeated  at  Tauroma- 
nion  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Sicily,  losing  the  citadel,  a 
stronghold  of  much  value.  This  had  proved  a  triumph  to 
the  revolutionists.  But  it  appears  to  have  been  re-taken 
by  Piso  in  some  subsequent  struggle. 9' 

Kupilius  on  assuming  command,  found  Tauromanion 
again  in  the  possession  of  Cleon  and  Eunus.  As  a  pun- 
ishment, Fabius  was  deprived  of  his  command  and  com- 
pelled to  quit  the  island.  Rupilius  then  resolved  to  lay 
siege  to  Tauromanion.  The  besieged  fought  desperately 
and  by  an  exhibit  of  courage  and  impetuosity  threw  back 
the  Roman  forces,  driving  them  into  a  corner.  Still  Ru- 
pilius was  not  overcome.  Rallying,  he  attacked  the  de- 
fenses of  the  slaves  and  checked  their  opportunity  to  do 
great  damage.  He  then  closed  them  in  and  began  the 
process  of  starvation  with  all  the  malignant  obstinacy  of  a 
Roman  warrior.  How  long  the  siege  lasted  is  not  quite 
apparent ;  but  in  time,  the  provisions  began  to  disappear. 
Hunger  at  last  made  its  gaunt  and  ghastly  tread  into  the 
abodes  of  the  besieged,  turning  brave  men  into  cannibals 
and  making  life  a  lottery  by  adding  a  horror  of  the  car- 
nivore to  the  pang  of  death.  The  poor  wretches  first  at- 
tacked their  own  children  and  devoured  their  flesh;  and 
then  with  the  true  beastliness  of  the  gunaecophage,  they 

ssp.iich.   R.   74  »<Valer.  Max.  VI    9,  8. 

•5Diod.  frag.  ii.  g  20.  »«  Valer.  Max.  IX.  12;  Ores.  V.  9  ;  Flor.  III.  19. 

V.  11,  7.  3  ;Flor.  Ill    19. 


CANNIBALISM;   WONDERFUL  DEATH  OF  COMA.   227 

sated  their  wolfish  appetites  on  the  flesh  and  the  innocent 
blood  of  women  and  other  adults  who  could  not  fight. M 

Tauromanion  was  commanded  by  Cleon's  brother,  Co- 
manus.  In  a  moment  of  extreme  desperation  the  latter, 
half  dead  with  the  grip  of  famine  made  an  attempt  to  es- 
cape. He  was  however,  detected  issuing  from  the  walls 
of  the  doomed  city.  Arrested  and  led  before  his  hated 
enemy,  the  inexorable  Rupilius,  he  was  questioned  regard- 
ing the  power  of  his  comrades  within  the  fortifications, 
their  objects  and  hopes  of  escape.  The  hour  of  the  bold 
man  of  terrors  had  come.  Never  deigning  an  answer,  with 
an  almost  unheard-of  force  of  will,  the  man,  after  a  wild 
moment's  pause  and  a  withering  stare,  covered  his  head 
with  his  mantle,  drew  in  his  breath,  and  by  a  superhuman 
struggle  at  self-command,  refused  to  breathe  again,  dying 
amidst  and  before  the  astonished  gaze  of,  "Rupilius  and 
his  guards ! " 

Finally  the  Romans  succeeded  in  battering  through 
the  lower  wall  a  gap  and  thus  forced  an  entrance.  But 
there  yet  remained  an  excellent  and  almost  impregnable 
citadel  into  which  the  besieged  took  refuge  as  the  Romans 
entered  the  breach.  Here  again  they  safely  held  them- 
selves for  a  time,  until  through  a  treachery  of  one  of  the 
commanders,  the  Romans  were  admitted. 

The  scene  which  followed  must  be  imagined ;  it  cannot 
be  described,  With  a  spirit  of  relentless  vengeance  Ru- 
pilius tied  the  helpless,  writhing  prisoners  fa&t,  until  his 
soldiers  could  have  time  to  erect  a  multitude  of  gibbets  ; 
then  in  the  frightful  manner  of  all  Roman  criminals  and 
the  proletarian  outcasts,  they  were  hung  upon  the  igno- 
minious cross.  Afterwards  their  bodies  were  hurled  down 
all  precipices  which  formed  an  escarpment  of  the  cita- 
del. 10°  Little  indeed  is  preserved  of  this  awful  martyrdom 
bnt  a  variety  of  broken  gems  corresponding  with  \  he  main 
body  of  our  narrative,  are  extant,  which  leave  us  the  con- 
jecture that  its  language  falls  short  of  the  ghastly  truth. 

It  is  fair  here  to  state  on  the  other  hand  that  a  similar 
cruelty  and  want  of  feeling  characterized  the  men  in  re- 
bellion. Their  vote  at  the  first  deliberative  council  de- 

»«Dio(l.  frag.  ii.   §20;    Oros.   V.  9. 

••Val.  Max.  IX.  12.  exc-  \. 

looCompare  Siefert,  S.  2V  with  Bucher,  S.  75. 


228  EDNUS. 

claring  for  the  butcher-knife  policy  was  an  edict  inhuman 
and  unworthy  of  a  cause  so  exalted  as  that  of  freedom. 
Nor  do  we,  except  under  the  sagacious  Achaeus,  find  that 
they  once  deviated  from  this  cruel  amd  almost  internecine 
policy  which  may  have  tended  to  harden  the  spirit  in  Ru- 
pilius, of  revenge,  retaliation  aud  ferocity. 

Rupilius,  having  now  partially  quenched  a  blood-thirst- 
ing spirit  on  these  victims,  marched  directly  for  Enna.  On 
his  arrival  he  found  the  place  an  almost  natural  fortress,  as 
difficult  to  storm  as  Tauromanion.  Upon  one  side  a  sim- 
ilar precipice  formed  a  natural  wall,  impregnable  under 
any  assault.  The  only  thing  practicable  was  to  besiege 
the  place,  wait  until  the  enemy's  stores  gave  out  and  ap- 
ply for  a  second  time,  the  process  of  starvation.  Cleon, 
the  hitherto  unconquerable  commander-in  chief,  hold  the 
fort.  Eunus  and  his  retinue  had  also  gone  back  thither, 
before  the  siege  of  Tauromanion  opened.  Achaeus  is  lost 
sight  of.  He  is  mentioned  as  dead;  but  from  what  cause 
is  unknown.  Comanus  had  fallen  at  Tauromanion.  At 
the  siege,  there  frequently  occurred  sorties  of  bodies  of 
volunteers  who  would  sometimes  dash  with  precipitation 
from  within  the  walls,  cutting,  wounding  and  taking  pris- 
oners, numbers  often  of  the  consul's  best  men.  In  one  of 
these  sallies  Cleon,  the  intrepid  chief,  now  mainstay  of  the 
already  worn  out  and  fainting  slaves,  was  the  leader  in 
person.  The  number  of  the  party  this  time  proved  in- 
sufficient to  cope  with  the  force  which  Rupilius  detailed 
against  them  and  in  an  effort  to  extricate  them  from  the 
peril  Cleon  himself,  in  a  hand  to  hand  conflict,  fell  mor- 
tally wounded,  a  prisoner  of  the  Romans,  and  expired. 

When  the  news  of  the  death  of  this  loved  and  trusted 
leader  came  to  the  ears  of  Eunus  and  his  people,  a  gen- 
eral gloom  overspread  the  city.  Courage  was  shattered. 
The  king  himself  lost  hope.  His  faith  forsook  him  and 
he  shrank  in  horror  and  despair.  N'ow  followed  the  work 
of  that  perfidious,  cruel,  with  ancient  working-men's  or- 
ganizations, ever-present  pest,  the  traitor.  As  at  Setia,  at 
Sunion,  at  Tauromanion,  so  here  at  Enna,  this  dangerous 
gorgon  of  i  nsidiousness  and  villainy  was  at  his  post  with 
fair  words  and  foul  intrigue  ready  to  work  his  deadly  poi- 
son for  the  enemy  and  against  a  friend  and  thus  the  keys 
to  the  gates  of  the  city  were  soon  after  the  death  of  Cleon, 


DEATH  OF  CLEON.    THE   IGNOBLE    CROSS.    229 

delivered  to  the  workingmen's  implacable  foe.  Enna  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans. 

The  wholesale  slaughter  of  the  people,  all  of  whom  were 
captured,  is  an  untraced  horror.  All  that  we  are  told  by 
the  hints  left  in  fragments  of  its  historians  and  seen  in  later 
commentaries,  is  that  20,000  of  them,  including  the  catas- 
trophe of  Tauromanion,  bit  the  dust.  The  multitude  of 
soldiers,  of  the  aged,  of  women  and  children  who  suffered 
by  sword  and  cross  in  other  parts  of  Sicily,  may  be  easily 
imagined.  But  at  Enna  the  crucifix  for  weeks  was  a  busy 
demon  of  retribution.  A  sullen  gleam  of  joy  seems  to 
have  lit  the  workers  of  revenge  and  to  have  made  the 
glare  of  the  firebrands  of  torture  and  the  sobs  and  moans 
of  the  helpless  in  their  hour  of  agony  so  cruelly  prolonged, 
moments  of  a  true  elysium  to  the  maddened  aristocracy 
-with  souls  steeped  in  competism,  whose  glaives  wreaked 
as  they  slashed  from  heart  to  heart  of  these  vanquished 
representatives  of  labor. 101 

Eunus  who  had,  during  his  day  of  fortune,  given  him- 
self up  to  luxury  and  perhaps  gluttony,  had  probably  be- 
come demoralized  and  with  him  many  others. 1W  A  whole 
people,  suddenly  changed  from  abject  slavery  and  degra- 
dation into  affluence,  becomes  in  turn,  the  arrogant  mas- 
ter, the  owner,  lord ;  and  enters  and  occupies  a  condition 
utterly  unnatural  to  their  expectations,  however  well  it 
may  conform  to  their  tastes.  The  result  is  voluptuous- 
ness and  degeneracy.  The  tea  years'  uninterrupted  reign 
of  Eunus  may  have  resulted  in  jealousies  and  internal  dis- 
tempers. How  Achseus  came  to  his  end  is  unknown ;  but 
.suspicion  points  to  some  fatal  feud  between  him  and  Cleon. 
.  A  ne  great  army  of  200,000  soldiers101  at  the  time  of  the 
junction  of  Acliseus  and  Cleon  is  no  longer  in  view  upon 
the  arrival  of  Piso  and  the  first  siege  of  Enna.  Where 
were  these  legions,  invincible  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war? 
"What  naa  occurred  in  emally? 

Eunus  lost  all  hope  and  courage  at  the  death  of  Cleon; 
and  as  Rupilius  entered,  shrank  from  his  kingly  seat  and 
fled  with  a  thousand  guards,  equally  bereft  of  courage, 

101  Siefert,  22:  "  Die  Sklaven  wurden  unter  Martern  getodtet,  meist  von 
den  hohen  Fel-en  gestiirzt.  Auch  luer  «bei  Henna)  wur  'en  Taugende  nieder- 
gehauen ;  die  Ge'ammtzahl  der  in  TaurOraenion  uiid  Henna  getbdteten  Sklaven 
betrug  tiber  zwanzicttausend,"  IM  Buch.  S.  76, 

iwDiod.  XXXIV.  firag.  ii ;  Siefe  t,  S  29;  Buch.  8  65.  BOcher  and 
Siftfort  are  agreed  in  putting  the  number. at  -200.000.  Livy,  Cleon  alone,  70,000. 


230  EUNUS. 

hoping  to  escape  to  an  inaccessible  cleft  or  hiding  place 
in  the  mountain.  This  rift  of  rocks  wth  its  trembling  con- 
tents was  soon  discovered  by  a  straggling  party  of  Roman 
troops.  Physical  force  was  at  an  end  and  the  omnipotent 
powers  of  the  humiliated  prophet  were  now  all  that  his  ad- 
herents had  to  fall  back  upon  for  succor.  The  Romans 
approached  and  commenced  furiously  the  work  of  arrest. 
Seeing  that  the  goddess  had  withdi-awn  her  arm  of  pro- 
tection, the  guards  of  Eunus,  rather  than  suffer  the  hor- 
rors of  the  cruel  and  ignominious  crucifixion,  fell  to  mu- 
tual extermination  and  by  a  desperate  inter-suicide,  rob- 
bed the  gibbet  of  its  prey.  Eunus  with  his  cook,  his  baker, 
his  bath  attendant  and  "king's  fool,"  10*  having  no  courage 
for  mutual  self-destruction,  hid  in  a  deep  crevice  of  the 
crag.  Thither  the  inexorable  Romans  followed  and  drag- 
ged them  out.  They  then  hung  his  kitchen  mates  upon 
a  cross. 

As  to  Eunus,  he  was  first  taken  to  the  dungeon  of  Mor- 
gan ti  on,  under  guard  ;  afterwards,  according  to  Plutarch, 
to  Rome,  (probably  the  career  Tidlianus,  or  one  of  the 
underground  Mamertine  caves)  where  in  excruciating  mis- 
ery, covered  with  vermin  and  seething  in  filth,  darkness 
and  terror,  he  ended  his  extraordinary  life.105 

Rupilius  was  a  man  too  thorough  to  leave  his  work  un- 
finished. He  sent  powerful  detachments  into  every  part 
of  Sicily  wherever  his  ecouts  brought  intelligence  of  any 
group  of  rebels  still  at  large.  Great  numbers  of  them 
were  seized,  brought  into  head-quarters  and  thence  taken 


.  XXXIV.  frag.  ii.  22. 
lofrDiod.     XXXIV.  frag.  il.  23.  Dind.      "Kai  napa.So6t\t  tit  wvXaKJjK,  *at  TOW 
VWfiarotavToC    fiaAvdcVrot    «i;  o>0cipwc   TrArjflo?,    otxctiof    rrjsirepi  avrov  pc5ioi/ayiaf 
caTC<rrpcijfC    TOV  &iov  iy  T>j  Mopyavrive  ,"     Livy.    Epit.    XC  :     "Capitnr,  'carcero  a 
pediculis  devoratur;"  Plutarch,    in    Life  of  Sylla.  37,     siiys;        "Thii 

abcess,"  speaking  ofS.vlla,  "corrupted  his  rtesh  turning  it  all  into  Ive."  **  « 
"We  are  told  that  among  the  an  ients,  Aeastus,  son  oi  Pelias,  died  of  this 
sickness;  and  ol  those  that  •.  onie  nearer  our  times,  Al-men  the  poet,  Pher- 
e  ydes  the  divine,  CiUlisthenes  tr  e  Olynthian  who  was  kept  iu  close  prison, 
and  Mucius  the  lawyer.  And  after  these  we  may  take  noti  e  ol  a  man  who 
did  not  distinguish  himself  by  anything  laudable,  but  was  noted  in  another 
•way,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  fugitive  slave  Eunus.  who  kindleJ  up  the 
servile  war  in  Sicily  and  was  afterwards  ta-.en  and  carried  to  liouie,  clie'l 
there  of  this  disease:"  Siefert  22  "Mit  4  seiner  Dieuer,  dein  Koch,  dum  Backer, 
dein  Badesklaven  und  deui  Lustigmacher  ward  er  iu  einer  Holhe  golangBrt 
Er  Starr)  im  GefanprniRS  ,in  derLa'usekranklieit  entweder  zu  Morgantion  ooer 
Rom.":  Acoorata*  to  Prudontii:s  (  Hymn  V,)  the  ancient  cav  ern  i>riso  ns 
weie  consiructi-il  xvitii  an  object  to  .  rxiuce  us  nAich  torture  .1-  possible. 
Other  uuciL-iit  authors  arjret-  in  conveying  tlio  idea  that  human  ingenuity  WBJ 
tasc-u  t.i  io\eut  bbcti  heli#. 


THE  DISASTROUS  END.  231 

to  the  many  Dionysian  quarries  or  lapicidinae,  dungeons 
for  which.  Sicily  was  famous,  and  those  found  guilty  of  di- 
rect participation  in  the  uprising  were  crucified.  But 
these  latter  were  the  most  numerous  share.  All  the  rest 
were  re-delivered  to  their  masters  to  receive  worse  treat- 
ment than  before. 

Such  Avas  the  first  servile  war  in  Sicily ;  the  greatest 
labor  rebellion  or  strike,  on  record  in  any  country  or  at 
any  time.  It  was  a  most  suggestive  matter ;  being  in- 
spired by,  based  upon,  animated,  from  its  inception  and 
all  through  by  grievances  against  the  conditions  regulating 
labor  and  relying;  upon  the  superstitious  idea  of  a  Mes- 
siah, fervently  believed,  among  the  ancient  poor,  to  be 
their  promised  deliverer. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ARISTONICUS. 

A  BLOODY  STRIKE  IN  ASIA  MINOR. 

FREEDMEN,  BONDSMEN,  TRAMPS  and  Illegitimates  Rise  against  Op- 
pression— Contagion  of  monster  Strikes — Again  the  Irasci- 
ble Plan  of  Rescue  tried — Aristonicus  of  Pergainus — Story 
of  the  Murder  of  Titus  Gracchus  and  of  300  Land  Reformers 
by  a  Mob  of  Nobles  at  Rome — Blossius,  a  Noble,  Espouses 
the  Cause  of  the  Workingmen — He  goes  to  Pergamus — The 
Hdiopolitai — The  Commander  of  the  Labor  Army  overpow- 
ers all  Resistance — Battle  of  Leuca — Overthrow  of  the'  Rom- 
ans— Death  of  Orassus — Arrival  of  the  Consul  Paperna — De- 
feat of  the  Insurgents — Their  Punishment — Discouragement 
and  Suicide — Aristoninns  strangled,  Thousands  crucified  and 
the  Cause  Lost — Old  Authors  Quoted. 

THE  great  uprising  or  strike,  partly  of  slaves  and  partly 
of  freedmen,  artisans  and  farmers  at  Pergamus  and  in  its 
vicinity,  was  to  some  extent  the  result  of  the  abortive  slave 
revolution  in  Sicily  just  described.  It  is  interesting  to 
the  student  of  sociology,  but  especially  so  to  the  student 
of  social  life  in  antiquity,  in  many  respects,  if  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  it  occurred  but  a  short  distance  from 
Palestine  with  its  Nazareth,  its  Jerusalem,  its  thousand 
memorable  scenes  that  163-1 66  years  afterwards  cradled 
and  founded  the  mightier,  more  imperishable  revolu- 
tion of  Christianity  which  aimed  the  final  blow  at  slavery. 

Pergamus,  on  the  river  Guicus,  was,  at  the  time  of  this 
story,  a  beautiful  city,  already  ancient  in  years  and  vicis- 
situdes. Attalus  III.,  a  son  of  Eumenes,  a  freaky,  cruel 
and  jealous  monarch,,  ruled  the  place  from  B,  C.  138  to 
133,  when  at  his  death  he  transferred  it  without  a  con- 


RESULTS   OF   GRACCHUS'  ASSASSINATION.    233 

test  to  the  Romans ;  so  that  it  was  a  Roman  possession 
when  our  story  begins.  The  official  news  of  this  testa- 
ment of  Attains  was  delivered  to  the  delighted  Roman 
Senate  in  the  early  fall  of  B.  C.  133.  There  had  been  a 
great  turmoil  in  Rome,  occasioned  by  the  abortive  attempt 
of  Titus  Gracchus  to  restore  the  Licinian  law,  making  it 
a  crime  for  any  person  to  hold  more  than  500  acres  of 
land.  The  entire  aristocracy  had  combined  with  the 
most  unscrupulous  and  desperate  resistance  against  Grac- 
chus ;  and  that  same  year  had  murdered  him  for  daring 
to  propose  a  measure  which  might  curtail  their  arrogant 
and  altogether  illegal  seizure  and  appropriation  of  the 
public  domain,  ager  publicus;  thus  building  up  a  landed 
aristocracy.  The  poor  people,  freedmen  and  slaves,  had 
been  intensely  interested  in  the  results  of  the  commotion, 
which  in  the  assassination  of  Gracchus  by  the  lords  and  the 
overthrow  of  his  noble  measure,  had  been  a  disaster  to 
them.  Finally  the  defeat  of  Eunus  and  his  army  of  revo- 
lutionists in  Sicily,  at  that  moment  accomplished  by  Rupil- 
ius,  added  to  the  woe  of  the  entire  plebeian  class.  But 
now,  as  if  this  misfortune  was  not  enough  (o  fill  their 
cup  of  bitterness,  the  news  arrives  from  Asia  Minor,  a 
country  in  which  the  trade  and  labor  unions  were  more 
splendidly  organized  than  almost  any  other  part  of  the 
world,1  tli  at  Pergamus  and  the  whole  rich  province  of 
Eumenes  and  his  successors,  was,  without  a  struggle, 
turned  over  to  the  greedy  Romans,  with  its  beautiful  and 
fertile  valleys  of  the  Guicus  and  tributaries,  to  become 
the  scene  of  human  slavery  and  its  extended  horrors.  Al- 
ready this  terrible  institution  was  planted  there,  compet- 
ing with  free  labor.  But  this  free  labor  is  proved  by  the 
inscriptions  to  "have  been  so  well  organized  and  so  self- 
sustaining  that  it  could  exist  under  almost  anjr  government 
except  that  of  the  conquering,  trampling  Romans.  The 
news,  then,  that  Pergamus  had  been  deeded  to  Rome, 
without  even  consulting  her  people,  was  a  mournful  shadow 
which  the  proletarian  class,  if  we  judge  by  what  followed, 
certainly  interpreted  to  mean  the  doom  of  liberty  and  or- 
ganization. Plutarch  thinks  that  human  slavery  and  its 
booty  had  much  to  do  with  this  strange  transaction,  which 
afforded  Gracchus  a  chance  to  argue  for  an  immediate 

1  See  chapters  six.  and  *ti. 


234  ARISTONICUS. 

distribution  of  money  and  lands,  left  in  the  testament  of 
the  dead  king,  among  the  poor,  under  this  new  agrarian 
measure  which  had  actually  passed  and  become  a  law.* 
Of  course  such  a  proposition  only  exasperated  the  Roman 
lords  to  the  frenzy  which  burst  into  a  tumultuous  mob 
and  ended  in  that  eloquent,  well-meaning  tribune's  violent 
death,  followed  by  a  great  insurrection  or  mob  of  the 
Roman  lords  and  the  murder  of  over  300  work  people  at 
Rome.  There  has  been  considerable  comment  by  the  his- 
torians and  others,  as  to  the  legality  of  the  testament  of 
Attalus,3  who  at  the  time  of  his  death  is  thought  by  his 
strange  conduct  to  have  been  insane. 

Attalus  had  a  half  brother  named  Aristonicus,  a  natural 
son  of  Eumenesby  a  woman  of  the  place  who  was  a  daughter 
of  a  musician  whom  probably  the  royal  family  had  em- 
ployed. According  to  a  clause  in  the  law  of  succession  it 
appears  that  this  person,  now  a  strong,  ambitious  and  vig- 
orous man,  was  the  real  heir  apparent  to  the  throne,  al- 
though only  half  noble  and  the  other  half  plebeian  by 
birth.  He  certainly  submitted  with  a  bad  grace  to  the 
arbitrary  testament  of  the  dead  king,  which,  it  was  sus- 
pected, had  been  accomplished  through  intriguing  Roman 
lawyers  often  seen  hovering  about  the  palace.4  Aristoni- 
cus entered  his  claim  to  the  throne  immediately  after  the 
tyrant's  death.  He  entered  into  the  new  project  with 
energy.  Nor  was  he  without  friends.  The  largest  part  oi 
the  kingdom  favored  his  pretention.  There  were  many 
cities  of  some  dimensions  lying  in  the  valleys  of  the  river 
G.iicus  and  its  tributaries,  nearly  all  of  which  determined 
lor  him  from  the  start  as  their  future  king.  By  the  ap- 
pearance of  things  Avistonicus  was  not  only  one  of  the 
common  people  but  very  popular  among  them.  Like  the 

*  Plutarch.  Tiberius  Sempronius  Gracchus,  14,  Oros.  V.  8.  Gracchus  had  not 
met  his  fate  when  Eudamus  delivered  the  testament  of  Attains  to  the  Romans. 

3  Livy,  Epitam.  LVIII.,  LV1X..  which  give  us  enough  to  show  that  LIvy  also 
wrote  the  history  of  this  great  mutiny  which  he  calls  a  bellum  servile.  Oros.  V. 
8.  10.  Strabo,  XIII.  Sallnst,  IV,  Historiarum  Populi  Rtmani  Libri,  fragment* 
"  Kumenem,  cnjus  amicitiam  gloriose  ostcntant.  initio  prodidere  Antiocho  paci. 
mercedem :  post  Attalnm  custodem  agri  captivi  sumtibns  et  contumeliis  ex 
rege  miserrumum  servornm  effecere :  pimulatoqne  impio  testamento,  (ilium  ejus 
Aristonicum,  quia  patrinm  regnum  petiverat,  hostium  more  per  trinmphnm 
duxere:  Asiaab  ipslsobsessaest:  postremototamBithyniam.  Nicornette  mortuo, 
diripuere,  cum  fliius  Nusae,  quam  reginam  appellaverant,  genitus  baud  dubie 
tsset."  Hilch.  Aufls,  S.  103. 

«  Diod.  XXXIV.,  frags,  ii.  and  ill,  Oros.  V.  10.    Strabo,  XIV.  p.  646.     Polyl. 

.A  .A  A  -    '/• 


CITIZENS    OF  THE  SUN.  235 

rest,  he  was  a  castaway.  Rome  haughtily  refused  to  re- 
cognize his  claim.  A  number  of  cities  like  Colophon, 
Myndum,  and  thickly  populated  places  as  Samos,  even  if 
they  wished  to  side  with  him,  were  afraid  of  the  Romans. 
To  secure  them  it  was  necessary  to  use  armed  force. 
Aristonicus  soon  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a  consider- 
able army  and  also  a  little  navy  consisting  of  a  number 
of  ships.  From  the  palace  he  had  obtained  some  money 
and  with  it  he  hired  Thracian  freedmen  as  mercenaries,  a 
common  practice  of  those  times.  Besides  these,  many  of 
the  soldiers  were  those  who  formerly  had  done  duty  for 
his  brother. 

The  Ephesians,  seeing  the  turn  things  were  taking  sent 
a  fleet  against  him  which  completely  destroyed  his  little 
squadron  near  the  coast  opposite  Cyme.  Aristonicus  now 
determined  to  depend  upon  trying  his  fortunes  by  land. 

Great  numbers  of  slaves  having  heard  of  the  success  of 
Eunus  in  Sicily,  and  fearing,  as  well  they  might,  that  the 
occupation  of  Pergamus  by  the  Romans  would  result  in 
their  worse  degradation,  were  ready  to  welcome  the  new 
adventurer.  The  organized  freedmen  had  cause  for  still 
greater  fears.  It  was  at  the  commencement  of  those  days 
of  persecution  of  trade  unions  by  the  Romans  which  cul- 
minated B.  C.  58,  in  a  law  for  their  suppression.6  The 
workingmen  of  antiquity  possessed  means  of  conveying- 
intelligence  of  their  hopes,  fears  and  methods  from  one 
center  or  post  to  another;  and  it  is  ascertained  that  in 
this  war  of  the  pretender  to  the  throne  of  Pergamus,  large 
numbers,  not  only  of  slaves,  but  also  of  freedmen  joined 
bis  army,  although  it  was  always  known  as  the  servile  war. 

In  the  interior  he  found  the  slaves  already  in  rebellion. 
They  had  raised  in  a  great  insurrection,  murdered  their 
masters,  taken  possession  of  their  estates '  and  were  or- 
ganizing an  army  when  Aristonicus  appeared  before  them 
making  overtures  for  their  mutual  assistance.  He  offered, 
them  their  freedom  and  a  respectable  place  in  the  army. 
He  promised  them  that  on  the  result  of  success  he  would 
build  up  a  state  based  on  their  ideal  of  freedom  and  equal- 
ity as  had  been  advocated  in  the  meetings  of  the  unions^ 

*  See  chaps,  xli  to  xviii,  containing  full  accounts  with  foot  notes  of  proof 
reference. 

'D  od.  XXXIV.  frag  iii. 


236  ARISTONICUS. 

The  eranoi  and  thiasoi '  existed  in  great  numbers  on  thii 
coast  of  Asia  Minor,  especially  at  Cyme,  Pergamos  and 
Samos.  The.se,  in  common  with  those  in  Greece,  Syria,  and 
the  islands,  had  established  a  culture  of  democracy.  The 
promise  made  to  these  confiding  people  was  that  they  should 
have  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights  guaranteed  them  and 
should  be  made  full  citizens;  their  state  which  the  new 
monarch  was  to  govern  for  them  was  to  be  the  "  sun  "  among 
nations  and  they  were  to  be  the  ennobled,  dazzling  citizens 
of  the  sun,  Heltopolitai.  Such  a  condition  bespoke  almost 
the  opposite  of  what  they  had  ever  seen  in  human  govern- 
ment. The  old  groundwork  of  Greek  government  was  one 
of  lordship  and  bondsmen,  dividing  mankind  by  a  gap  so 
wide  that  it  could  scarcely  be  passed  by  leaps  of  fortune  or 
aptitude.  Yet  they  seem  to  have  been  able  to  comprehend 
the  force  of  these  promises.  The  discussions  they  had  pre- 
viously had  in  their  societies  had  prepared  them  to  receive 
and  appreciate  the  promise.  On  the  other  hand  they  were 
to  work  with  an  obedient  will  and  help  the  new  king  to  estab- 
lish himself  on  the  throne.  Dr.  Biicher 8  points  out  that 
the  dazzling  idea  of  becoming  such  citizens  of  the  sun  was 
what  enraptured  and  won  the  slaves  of  Enna  and  all  Sicily 
over  to  Eunus  during  the  great  servile  war.  The  more 
ancient  Syrian  religion  had  been  that  of  sun-worship,  and 
their  sun-god  was  equivalent  in  power  and  importance  to 
the  Greek  Jove.*  The  Syrians  had  an  idea  that  their  sun- 
worship  was  done  to  a  sun-god  and  goddess;  the  god  being 
equal  to  Jupiter  and  the  goddess  to  Demeter  or  Ceres.  So 
we  hear  of  Eunus  pretending  to  be  the  chosen  representa- 
tive of  Ceres,  \vho  made  the  sun  warm  the  fruits  of  the 
earth.  Like  the  Greek  gods  who  dwelt  on  the  height  of 
Olympus  the  ouranos  or  vaulted  dome  of  heaven,  so  Adad 
and  Atargatis,  the  sun-god  and  goddess  of  the  Syrians,10  had 
their  celestial  home  on  the  plateau  eminence  between  the 
twin  mountains  of  Lebanon,  at  the  source  of  the  Orontes, 
whose  waters  swept  the  foot  of  Antioch.  Sun  and  earth 

'  For  eranot  and  thiasoi,  the  ancient  Greek-speaking  labor  unions,  see  chap, 
xix.  infra. 

«  AufstHnde  der  Unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  106.  "  Der  name  der  Heliopoliten,  weist 
;'ar«uf  bin,  dass  es  derselbe  war  durch  welchen  Eanus  seine  Syrer  fanatisirte." 

«  Macrobius  Saturnaliorum  Ltbri.  I, 13, 10,  Eyssenhardt,  1><68:  ••Aesyriiqaoque 
rolem  sab  nomine  Jovis,  quern  Ai'a  'HAiovn-oXirnvcognominant,  maximia  cerimo- 
•iiia  celebrant  in  civitate  quae  tieliopolis  nuncupatur." 

"Strabo  Xil. 


HIS  FIRST   VICTORIES.  237 

are  within  their  power  which  is  all  that  is  glory,  goodness 
and  light.  Thus  these  poor  enslaved  beings,  stunted  by 
hard  labor  and  sufferings,  either  as  slaves  under  the  master's 
lash  or  as  freedraen  whose  organizations  are  threatened  or 
broken  up,  and  whose  business  is  lost — they  being  already 
in  a  state  of  insurrection — quickly  grasped  the  offer  of  Aris- 
tonicus  and  became  his  soldiers. 

Thus  began  another  great  strike  or  uprising  of  the  labor- 
class;  this  time  in  far  off  Asia  Minor,  that  was  destined  to 
add  one  more  link  to  the  already  immense  concatenation  of 
circumstances  leading  to  the  great  revolution  of  Jesus.  But 
it  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  most  necessary  thing  in  the 
stubborn  logic  of  a  fiat,  in  order  that  mankind  might  be 
taught  the  utter  fallacy  of  any  vengeful  policy  based  upon 
the  purely  irascible,  combating  the  acquisitive  or  concupis- 
cent impulses  of  human  nature. 

Aristonicus  began  the  war  with  slaves  and  freedmen  as 
soldiers,  in  a  manner  similar  to  that  of  Eunus.  His  object 
was  to  become  a  king  over  a  socialistic  state.  We  are  not 
aware  of  the  number  of  cities  that  refused  him,  but  it  must 
have  been  considerable.11  These  he  stormed  and  enforcing 
an  entrance,  plundered  and  treated  with  cruelty.  The  first 
city  taken  was  Thyratira;  the  next  Apollonis — large  towns 
built  by  the  Atn'se  and  Seleucidae. 

Conquest  followed  and  ci'ty  after  city  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  pretender  and  his  rebel  army.  This  successful  cam- 
paign continued  until  we  find  them  in  possession  of  the  en- 
tire kingdom.  Nothing  is  imparted  to  us  in  regard  to 
whether  the  neighboring  slaves  rebelled  against  their  mas- 
ters, in  imitation  of  these  proceedings  at  Pergamus. 

At  Rome,  little  or  nothing  was  d  one  during  the  year  B. 
C.  133-132,  to  quell  the  new  uprising  in  Asia.  The  great 
city  was  still  trembling  midst  the  cyclonic  billows  of  the 
Gracchan  revolt.  Thenew  servile  wars  at  Rome  and  Capua, 
excited  to  a  high  pitch  by  the  affair  of  Gracchus  and  his 
agrarian  law  was  a  dangerous  rekindling  of  the  war  of  Eunus. 
Titus  Gracchus  during  this  period  was  assassinated,  as  we 
shall  soon  relate,  and  a  large  detachment  of  the  Roman  army 
was  still  absent  in  Sicily  under  Rupilius,  putting  down  the 

«  Sallust  wrote  a  full  history  of  the  war  bat  his  details  are  all  pone.  Noth- 
ing of  his  valuable  history  remains  except  Iragments,  some  of  then)  so  broken 
as  to  contain  only  half  a  line. 


23«  ARISTONICUS. 

immense  social  upheaval  recounted  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

Thus,  for  a  short  time  Rome  had  no  time  to  turn  atten- 
tion toward  her  new  territory  of  Pergamus  bequeathed  her 
by  Attalus  III.  When  the  news,  however,  reached  the  city 
that  the  pretender  was  earnestly  and  successfully  making 
headway  and  with  the  armed  proletaries,  rapidly  achieving 
their  object,  the  Romans  awoke  to  a  realization  of  the  truth. 
But  wherever  the  premise  of  booty  showed  itself  they  were 
•seldom  known  to  lie  negligent  or  apathetic. 

The  two  consuls  for  the  year  131  were  P.  Licinius  Cras- 
sus  Mucianus  and  L.  Valerius  Flaccus.  According  to  an 
old  usage,  Licinius  Crassus  was  the  Pontifix  Maximus,  and 
as  such,  through  a  religious  superstition,  could  not  leave 
Italy.  Pagan  religion  also  interposed  against  the  other  con- 
sul taking  the  field  ;  he  being  Flamen  Martialis  to  his  col- 
league There  arose  a  dispute  among  the  senators,  and  the 
illustrious  name  of  Scipio  Africanus  was  brought  up  for  the 
general  command  of  the  expedition.  But  this  plan  was  re- 
jected and  it  was  at  last  resolved  to  send  Crassus,  who  had 
been  one  of  the  ardent  friends  of  Gracchus  and  his  land  re- 
form, and  for  this  reason  was  beloved  by  the  common  peo- 
ple. Another  reason  for  preferring  him  for  the  command 
of  the  expedition  was,  that  he  was  not  only  master  of  the 
Greek  but  also  spoke  its  Asiatic  dialects;  and  having  ex- 
hibited talent  as  an  orator,  he  was  believed  to  possess  a 
variety  of  abilities  necessary  to  insure  success.18 

He  set  sail  from  Rome  during  the  early  part  of  the  year, 
with  his  whole  army  and  the  navy  constituting  in  all  a  large 
force,  and  with  a  prosperous  voyage  on  the  Mediterranean 
arrived  safely  in  the  harbor  of  Pergamus.13  He  had  no 
other  idea  than  to  make  himself  master  of  the  new  legacy 
of  Pergamus ;  for  it  does  not  appear,  because  he  sympa- 
thized with  Gracchus  and  the  Italian  proletariat,  that  he 
even  understood  or  cared  in  the  least,  for  an  almost  exactly 
similar  state  of  suffering  and  somewhat  similar  movement 
in  Asia.  The  question  of  sympathy  with  the  poor  seems  to 
illy  befit  the  objects  of  the  commander  of  the  expedition 

12  Valerereus  Maximus  VIII.  7,6:  "  Jam  H,  Crap  SUB,  cum  In  Asiam  ad  Aris- 
tonicum  regem  debellandum  consul  venisset,  tanta  cura  (ireecse  linguae  notitiam 
aninio  comprehend!!,  nt  e.'im  in  quinqne  divisam  genera  per  omnes  paries  ac 
numeros  penitus  cognosceret-  QUSB  res  maximum  ei  eociorum  amorem  conci- 
liavit.  qua  quis  eorutn  lingua  apud  tribunal  illius  postulaverat,  eadein  decreta 
.reddemi."  Cic.  Phil.  XI,  8,18. 

is  Cell,  I.  13, 11. 


ARRIVAL  OF  BLOSSUI8  239 

against  Aristonicus.  It  would  seem  that  the  impulses  of 
tenderness  he  had  manifested  for  Gracchus  and  the  Italian 
poor  and  his  rising  power  shown  by  his  election  might  have 
played  a  deal  in  deciding  upon  Crassus  against  Scipio  to 
get  him  out  of  the  way. 

On  landing,  Crassus  had  interviews  with  Nicomedes,  king 
of  Bithynia;  Mithradates,  king  of  Pontus;  Ariarthes,  king  of 
Cappadocia  and  Pylsernenes  of  Paphlagonia ;  all  of  whom 
were  seriously  alarmed  about  the  labor  agitation,  expect- 
ing similar  uprisings  would  take  place  in  their  own  terri- 
tories; and  they  were  probably  trembling  in  view  of  the 
danger.  They  all  eagerly  joined  with  the  Romans  in  their 
effort  to  put  down  the  rebels.  Each  pledged  himself  to 
contribute  a  strong  force  of  troops. 

On  the  other  hand,  Aristonicus,  in  addition  to  his  prole- 
taries, had  also  engaged  another  body  of  soldiers,  consisting, 
of  Thracian  mercenaries.  Phocsea,  one  of  the  finest  cities 
supported  him  arid  many  others  staked  their  interests  in  him. 
But  his  best  piece  of  fortune  was  meeting  with  Blossius  of 
Cumae,  a  stoic,  who  infused  with  the  spirit  of  the  movement 
of  Gracchus  and  also  of  Eunus  of  Sicily,  had  risen  in  Asia 
Minor  as  advocate  of  the  rights  of  mankind  and  become  a 
social  reformer.11  Plutarch  tells  the  full  story  of  Blossius. 
We  reproduce  his  and  other  points. 

A  man  named  Blossius  from  the  Italian  municipium  of 
Cutnse,  subject  to  Rome,  who,  it  appears,  was  an  educated 
patrician,  for  some  cause  unexplained  became  greatly 
charmed  by  the  majestic  eloquence  of  Gracchus  and  his  ex- 
traordinary defense  of  the  poor  working  population  of  Italy. 
What  inspired  him  to  it  may  be  conjectured  to  have  existed 
in  some  degree  independently  of  an  enthusiasm  for  one  man. 
The  city  of  Cumae  was  itself  a  home  of  labor  unions.16  It 
was  about  that  time  also  that  persecutions,  frowns  and 
threats  had  sot  in  against  labor  organizations  of  every  kind. 
Roman  aristocracy  had  lived  to  see  the  steady  growth  of 
human  liberty  and  was  shrewd  enough  to  perceive  that  trade 
unionism  was  a  potent  factor  in  its  promotion.  Labor 
unions  took  a  political  shape  notwithstanding  the  severe 

i«  Plutarch  Tiberius  GravJiut,  17,  20;  Valerius  Maximus,  IV.  7,  1;  Cicero, 
£al..ll,  37. 

16  O.-cllins,  IrucrMonum  Latinarum  CoUectio.  Nos  2,263.  6.422.  6,463,  5,158, 
131  These  figures  refer  to  slabs  of  stone  on  which  are  found  inscribed  the  reg- 
isters of  collegiior  trade  unions  comae  must  have  been  a  hive  of  unions  at  that 
t.iue. 


240  ARISTON1CUS. 

laws  against  them.  To  head  off  these  tendencies  of  organ- 
ized labor,  existing  uot  only  in  Cumse  but  everywhere,  the 
Romaa  lords  were  combined  almost  to  a  man,  heart  and 
soul  and  with  malignant  determination,  to  destroy  them. 
To  do  this  tile  more  effectually  they  appealed  to  the  avari- 
cious instincts  of  the  so-called  citizen  class,  portraying  the 
immense  individual  wealth  which  might  be  developed  from 
the  great  accessions  of  stock  and  farm  lands  falling  to  the 
Roman  arms  through  conquest.  This  wealth  was  already 
in  many  places  being  realized  and  the  power  to  be  used  for 
its  development  was  human  slavery.  The  slave  power  was 
the  muscle  of  the  subjugated  tillers  of  the  land.  But  to 
accomplish  this  there  must  be  rigorous  laws  for  suppressing 
free  labor.  Gracchus,  who  had  seen  the  horrors  of  slavery 
in  Etruria  while  once  traveling  through  that  country  on 
business,  had  determined  to  devote  his  life  to  the  rescue  of 
the  slaves  and  threaten edfreedmen.  Blossius  saw  him  and 
they  became  intimate  friends. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fatal  patrician  mob,  "  Gracchus," 
says  Plutarch,  "who  was  a  grandson  of  Scipio  Africanus, 
set  off  for  the  Forum  of  Rome  when  he  heard  that  the  pop- 
ulace were  gathering  there  ;  but  not  without  a  presentiment 
of  ill  omen.  A  brace  of  snakes  had  laid  eggs  in  his  highly 
ornamented  helmet.  The  chickens  from  whose  entrails  the 
aruspex  was  to  forshadow  his  augury,  refused  to  come  from 
their  coop  and  eat.  Two  black  ravens  were  seen  fighting 
on  the  roof  of  a  house  and  one  of  them  rattled  a  stone  down 
at  his  feet." 16  All  these  were  bad  omens  "  which  to  those 
superstitious  people  proved  so  disastrous  by  prostrating  their 
faith,  hopes  and  consciences  in  many  an  hour  of  trial  and 
caused  disasters  more  terrible  than  their  enemies  themselves. 
The  boldest  of  the  comrades  of  Gracchus  were  staggered. 
Further  than  this,  when  he  left  the  threshold  of  his  home, 
Gracchus  had  stumbled  and  hurt  his  toe  so  badly  that  it  bled 
profusely.  Blossius  was  with  him,  and  it  seems  was  the 
spokesman  of  the  train. 

Gracchus,  like  many  another  leader  among  the  ancients, 
shrank  at  this  array  of  ill  omens,  but  Blo>sius  dissuaded  him 
from  his  timid  design  of  returning  by  the  following  per- 

18  Plutarch,  Titus  Gracchus. 

"  Fuatel  de  Coulanges,  Cite  Antique,  is  the  best  work  we  can  refer  to  for  an 
explanation  of  the  influence  of  superstitions  in  ancient  times.  For  the  supersti- 
tious themselves,  see  Julius  Obsequene,  de  ProdigU,  passim. 


SLOSSIUS    GOES   TO    ASIA.  241 

euasive  speech:  "For  Tiberius  Gracchus,  grandson  of 
Scipio  African  us  and  tribune  of  the  Romans,  to  be  scared  at 
a  crow,  and  disappoint  the  people  who  are  assembled  to  re- 
ceive his  aid,  would  be  an  unendurable  disgrace.  His  enemies 
would  not  alone  laugh  at  such  a  blunder  but  they  would 
malign  him  to  the  common  people  as  an  insolent  tyrant," 
Friends  also  now  came  to  herald  the  fact  that  a  great  num- 
ber of  people  were  gathering  and  were  impaiient  of  his  ar- 
rival and  that  all  was  calm. 

The  outcome  of  it  was  that  Gracchus  yielded,  but  was 
goon  beset  by  one  of  those  terrible  mobs  of  Roman  nobles 
and  their  hirelings,  denounced  as  an  ambitious  schemer  who 
wanted  nothing  but  the  votes  and  support  of  the  rabble  and 
intended  to  make  himself  tyrant  of  Rome.  They  set  upon 
the  defenceless  man  and  murdered  him  with  kicks  and  clubs. 

So  great  was  the  faith  of  Blossius  in  Gracchus  that  when 
afterwards  asked  if  he  would  have  burned  the  capitol  had 
he  been  commanded  by  him  to  do  so,  he  replied  that  Grac- 
chus was  too  wise  to  have  made  such  a  command,  but  sup- 
plemented it  when  pressed  with  the  daring  answer  that  he 
should  have  obeyed.18  Blossius,  notwithstanding  the  trea- 
son, escaped  and  was  not  pursued,  probably  because  he  was 
thought  to  be  infatuated.  He  now  bent  his  course  toward 
Asia  Minor  19  and  joined  his  learning  and  influence  to  the 
insurrection  of  the  freedmen  and  slaves,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Aristonicus. 

.We  now  return  to  the  career  of  Publius  Crassus,  a  rela- 
tive of  the  Gracchi — Caius,  tne  brother  of  Tiberius  Gracchus, 
having  married  his  daughter  Licinia.  As  mentioned,  he  had 
no  sympathy  whatever  with  the  emancipation  movement 
which  was  then  raging  over  the  known  world,  excepting 

"  Cicero,  Lcelius,  II,  makes  this  account  almost  exactly  similar  with  that  of 
Plutarch,  or.of  Valerias  Maximus  De  Amicitia,  VIII,  vii  1 ;  '•  Nam  cum  senate. 8 
Rupilin  ac  X,asnati  consnlibus  mandagsjet,  ut  in  tos  qui  cnmGracchpcousenser- 
ant,  more  majonim  animadverterent ;  et  ad  Leelium,  cujus  consilio  prsecique 
consules  u  ebantur,  pro  se  Blossius  deprecatum  venisset,  familiadtatisqne  ex- 
cusatinne  uteretur,  atque  is  dixisset.  Quid  site  Gracchus  templq  Jovis  Opt. 
ilax  faces  subdere  jussisset:  obsecutnrusne  volimtati  illius,  propter  istam  quam 
jactas  familiaritatem,  fi-sses?  Kutiquam  istud.  inqnit,  Gracchus  imperasset, 
Satis,  imo  etiam  nimium  ;  totius  nainque  sermtus  consensu  damnatos  mores  de- 
fendere  ausus  est  Verum  quod  eequitur.  multo  audacius,  multoque  periculosius ; 
compreesus  enim  perseveranti  interrogatione  Lselii,  in  eodem  constant!®  gradu 
stetit:  seque  etiam  hoc,  si  modo  Gracchus  annu:sset.  factutum  respondit. 

is  Valerius  Maximus,  idem  note  of  Thyss.  "Tiberiuni  et  Caium,  frattres,  ob 
gravissimas  seditiones,  quas  in  podulo  suis  legibne  e\citabant,  noetes  a  Senatu 
juisse  ndicatos,  and  ntcnmque  a.  nobilitate  ccesnm,  alterum  a  Nasico,  alterum  ab 
Gpimio.  Quo  tandem  caeso,  lilossius  ad  Arigtonicum  regem  coufugit.  Piofli- 
gatis  deinde  rebus  Aristonici,  mortem  sibi  condvit." 


242  ARISTON1CUS. 

so  far  as  that  of  Rome  proper  was  concerned.  He  landed 
at  or  near  Pergamus  :md  formed  an  alliance  with  the  princes 
of  the  Pergamenian  kingdom  and  the  kings  of  Bithynia, 
Pontus,  Cappadocia  and  Paphlagonia,  engaged  as  many  na- 
tive soldiers  as  possible  and  with  his  own  army  and  the 
auxiliaries,  made  an  assault  upon  Leucse,  a  strongly  fortified 
city.  A  protracted  siege  must  have  followed ;  for  he  was 
there  fighting:  in  the  following  winter,  when  his  consulship 
had  nearly  expired.  He  was  laying  his  plans  to  leave  for 
Rome  when  entrapped  and  surprised  by  the  arrival  of  heavy 
reinforcements  for  Aristonicus.  Crassus  was  forced  to  give 
battle  and  was  totally  defeated.  He  was  himself  surrounded 
by  the  enemy  and  taken  prisoner.  Treated  no  doubt,  with 
severity,  and  discouraged  if  not  distracted,  he  sought  death 
rather  than  disgrace ;  and  one  day,  infuriating  one  of  the 
Thracian  mercenaries  by  a  punch  in  the  eye  with  his  riding 
whip,  the  hitter  plunged  his  sword  through  his  body  and 
killed  him  on  the  spot.20  The  head  of  the  dead  Roman 
general  was  cut  off  and  the  body  taken  to  Smyrna  and 
buried. 

In  the  meantime,  at  the  coinitia  at  Rome,  M.  Paperna, 
had  been  elected  one  of  the  new  consuls  for  the  year  130. 
The  news  of  the  turn  of  military  things  in  Asia  Minor  cast 
an  alarm  at  the  home  government  and  Paperna  was  fitted 
out  and  soon  on  his  way  with  an  army  large  enough  to 
crush  the  forces  of  Aristonicus  at  a  blow.  Arrived  in  Mysia 
and  receiving  the  particulars  of  the  disaster  of  Crassus /it 
LeucaB  he  betook  himself  to  the  spot  where  the  slaughter 
occurred.  The  time  of  year  when  he  arrived  must  have 
been  March  or  late  in  February ;  for  Aristonicus  was  yet  at 
winter  quarters. 

Before  the  latter  could  prepare  himself  for  resistance, 
Paperna  fell  upon  him  by  surprise.  A  great  battle  ensued 
in  which  Aristonicus  was  totally  overthrown.  With  the 

20  Valerius  M  aximus,  m.  ii.  12,  De  Fortitudine:  "  Militia  hujus  in  adverse 
casu  tarn  egregius  tamque  virilis  animus,  quam  relaturus  sum  imperatoris.  P. 
enim  Crassus  cum  Aristonico  bellum  in  Asia  gerens,  a  Thracibus,  quorum  is 
magnum  in  prsesidio  habebat,  inter  Eleam  et  Smyrnam  exceptus,  ne  in  ditionem 
ejus  perveniret;  dedecus,  accersita  ratione  mortis,  effugit.  Virgam  enim,  qua 
ad  regendum  equum  usus  fuerat,  in  unius  barbari  oculum  direxit.  Qui  vi  doloris 
accensns,  latus  Crassi  sica  coniodit:  dumque  se  ulciscitur,  Romanum  impera- 
torem  majestatis  amissae  turpitudine  liberavit.  Ostendit  fortunse  Crassus,  quam 
indignum  virum  tarn  gravi  contumelia  amcere  voluisset;  quoniam  quidem  in- 
jectos  ab  ea  libertati  suse  miserabiles  laqueos  prudenter  partier  acl'ortiter  rupit, 
datumque  se  jam  Aristonico,  digmtati  suse  reddidit.''  Cic.  Legg.  III.  19,  42: 
Strabo  XII. 


BATTLES  OF  LEUC^E  AND   STR  ATOMICS.    243 

shattered  remnant  of  his  army  he  fled  to  Stratonicse  bat 
•was  doggedly  followed  by  the  Romans  who  surrounded 
the  place  and  starved  him  to  a  capitulation.  With  most  of 
the  slaves  he  fell  a  prisoner  to  the  Romans. 

Paperr.a's  time  being  about  to  expire  —the  manoeuvres, 
•cross  marching  and  other  vicissitudes  of  the  campaign  hav- 
ing absorbed  the  summer — Aristonicus,  with  a  portion  of 
liis  rebel  soldiers  and  officers,  was  conveyed  back  in  irons 
to  Pergamus.  Paperna  pressed  his  design  to  take  his 
distinguished  prisoner,  as  well  as  the  Pergamenian  treasure 
bequeathed  by  Attalus  III,  back  to  Rome,  before  the  arrival 
of  the  new  consul  should  deprive  him  of  his  laurels;  since 
it  was  often  the  habit  in  such  cases,  where  the  counsulship 
lasted  but  a  year,  for  the  new  comer  who  had  done  nothing, 
to  bereave  the  real  winner  of  his  honors,  if  the  latter's  works 
were  incomplete.  Just  before  Aquilius  the  new  couusul  ap- 
peared on  the  stage,  Paperna  was  taken  sick  at  Pergamus, 
and  died.21 

A  word  remains  to  be  said  as  to  the  probable  fate  of  the 
poor  slaves  and  freedmen  who  formed  the  principle  part  of 
the  army  of  revolution.  Almost  nothing  is  left  us  on  this 
point.  Aristonicus  it  is  known,  was  taken  by  sea  to  Rome 
in  chains  and  strangled  in  the  cell  of  his  prison,  B.  C.  129. 
His  ardent  and  faithful  friend  Blossius  of  Cumse,  seeing  his 
cause,  and  lifework,  thus  ground  to  powder  between  the 
millstones  of  Roman  power,  desired  no  longer  to  live.  In 
his  philosophy  of  human  equality  which  this  defeat  had 
pr;iciically  extinguished,  death  seemed  preferable  to  a  lonely 
existence  and  he  put  an  end  to  himself. 

But  what  of  the  rank  and  file?  It  would  seem  by  the 
silence  itself  of  historians  and  the  otherwise  unaccountable 
delay  of  Paperna  at  the  scene  of  his  victory — delay  which 
brought  his  departure  for  Pergamus  late  into  the  following 
fall  although  the  battle  was  fought  in  the  early  spring — 
nearly  the  entire  summer  had  been  consumed  in  the  horri- 
ble work  of  crucifying  the  unfortunate  working-people  who, 

n  Valerius  Mirimus,  III.  iv,  5 :  De  Humili  Loco  Natit.  "  Kon  parvus  consul- 
ting rubor  M.  Perparna,  utpote  qui  consul  ante  quam  civis ;  sed  in  bello  gerendo 
utilioriJiquantoreipub.  Varronaimperatore.  Begem  enim  Ariatonicum  cepit. 
Crassianseque  stragis  punitor  extitit.  Cum  interim  cujns  vitatriumphavit,  mora 
Papia  lege  damn ita  est.  Namque  patrom  illius,  nihil  ad se  pertinentia  civis  Rom- 
an i  jura  cornplerum.Sabelli  judicio  petitum.redirein  pristinas  sedes  coggerunt. 
ita  51.  Perperaz  nomen  adumbratum,  falsus  consulates,  caliginis  simile  impel*- 
ium,  caducua  triumph  as,  aliena  in  urbe  improbe  peregrinatus  est." 


244  ARISTONICUS. 

through  that  battle,  had  lost  their  cause.2*  Could  there 
have  remained  to  us  one  faithful  copy  describing  the  scenea 
of  vengeance23  and  the  dangling  corpses  left  rotting  on  the 
gibbets  of  Stratonicae  in  Carea.  we  should  then  have  a  chron- 
icle of  things  perfectly  harmonious  wiih  the  brutal  nature 

22  Plato,  Laws,  book  IX.  chap.  9,  in  giving  his  directions  regarding  the  treat- 
ment of  a  slave  who  is  a  murderer  or  accessory  to  the  crime,  lays  down  the  rule 
that  if  a  freeman  or  citizen  commit  homicide  he  shall  be  turned  over  to  the  mur- 
dered man's  relatives,  who  have  the  power  to  redeem  him  for  money,  for  good 
previous  conduct,  or  through  the  intercession  of  his  friends.  If  however,  the 
crime  be  committed  upon  a  citizen  by  a  slave,  such  offender  is  to  be  handed 
over  to  the  relatives  who  are  to  torture  or  otherwise  punish  him  without  limit, 
as  they  please:  the  only  proviso  being  that  the  torture  or  punishment  shall  not 
ttap  short  of  death.  This  is  Plato's  state  of  the  "Blessed" — lenient  in  comparison 
with  the  existing  laws — and  as  the  customs  of  the  Greek-speaking  Asians  and 
islanders  were  fully  as  severe  as  those  ol  the  Athenians  and  fellow  countrymen  of 
Plato,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  anything  less  than  death  could  have  befallen 
the  victims  of  Paperua.  The  following  is  Plato's  law ;  which  we  give  in  English: 
"  If  a  slave  kills  his  master  in  a  passion,  let  the  kindred  of  the  deceased  use  the 
murderer  in  whatever  manner  they  please,  and  be  clean  of  the  acts,  so  long  as 
they  do  not  by  any  means  preserve  the  life  of  the  slave."  But  in  the  same  law 
Plato  rules  that  this  happy  republic  shall  "  let  him  who  kills  his  own  slave,  un- 
dergo a  purification."  (Translation  of  Burges).  Surely  a  human  low-born  was 
considered  inferior  to  a  dog,  for  that  animal  was  often  exempt  by  reason  of  his 
irresponsibility ! 

••&  That  this  was  a  genuine  labor  rebellion  there  seem  to  be  no  grounds  for 
doubt.  Dr.  Biicher,  Anjstande  der  Unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  107-8,  in  the  following 
eigniflcant  language  brings  forward  the  question  of  the  prevailing  ideas  of  those 
people,  especially  the  laboring  class,  whose  organizations  wer?  being  seriously 
threatened  by  these  events;  These  Attalic  societies  had  always  hitherto 
been  not  only  befriended  but  protected  by  the  Pergamenian  kings.  We 
quote  the  words  of  Dr.  BUcher  on  the  Dionysian  Communists:  "Dieletztere 
bestand  darin,  das  sich  die  Feiernden  durch  Weihen  und  Stthnungen,  durch  iip- 
pige  Tanze  unter  dem  Klang  der  Flbte  und  der  Handpauke  in  siimberiickenden 
Taumel  und  wilde  Begeisterung  versetzten,  in  der  sie  sich  zur  Gottheit  empor- 
Euschwingen,  Wunder  sehen  und  verrichten  zu  konnen  meinten.  Wenn  gerade 
damals  diese  Kulte  auch  im  eigentlichenGriechenlandin  einer  grossen  Zahl  von 
geschlossenen  Vereinen  undfrommen  Bruderschaftengepflegt  wurden  (S.  34.  92), 
so  ist  das,  was  ihnen  Verbreitung  verschafl'te,  nicht  sowohl  das  Zaubermeer  eines 
schrankenlosen  Sinnenrausches,  in  das  sich  ein  unbefriedigtes,  iiberreiztes  Ge- 
achlecht  so  gern  versenkt,  als  vielmehr  die  diesen  Genossenschaften  eigenthum- 
liche,  der  socialen  Anschaungsweise  der  Hellenen  iremde  Gleichstellung  aller 
Mitglieder,  mochten  sie  Griechen  odor  Barbaren,  Manner  Oder  Frauen,  Freie 
Oder  Sklaven  sein.  Darnach  ist  die  Bezeichnung,  Burger  der  Sonnenstadt,  zu 
beurtheilen;  sie  schied  die  Anhanger  des  Aristonikos  als  die  glaubige  Gemeinde 
des  Adad  von  den  Unglaubigen,  die  verbriiderten  Armen  und  Elenden  von  ihren 
feindlichen  Bedriingern,  wie  wir  den  von  Eunus  anf  den  Schild  gehobenen  Namcn 
der  '  Syrer '  demzutolge  auch  nach  der  religiosen  Seite  werden  zu  nehrnen  haben, 
als  das  Kennzeichen  der  Anhanger  der  Atargatis."  This  Atargatis  was  the  ver- 
itable goddess  Ceres,  protectress  of  labor,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken  so 
much  in  our  chapters  on  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  and  on  Eunus  and  Athenion 
of  Sicily.  Several  coincident  circumstances  crowd  themselves  into  this  connec- 
tion, to-wit :  This  is  the  prolific,  original  soil  of  the  early  Christian  church.  The 
apostles  must  have  used  these  half-smothered  communes,  ready  in  advance,  per- 
force their  owii  previous  cult,  to  embrace  any  new  idea  that  promised  relief; 
for  the  rebellion  having  failed,  all  the  free  farmers,  mechanics  and  laborers  were 
dragged  down  to  slavery ;  and  their  condition  was,  at  the  beginning  of  our  era 
infinitely  worse  than  it  had  ever  been  before.  Again,  this  very  spot  together 
with  the  adjacent  islands,  is  to  this  day  the  repository  of  innumerable  inscrip- 
tions—the marvel  of  Archaeologists— which  begin  to  be  the  subject  of  contention 
among  scholors  who  are  averse  to  recognizing  such  a  thing  as  a  labor  move- 
ment, and  who  are  consequently  nonplussed  regarding  anything  other  than  their 


AGAIN   THE    GIBBET.  245 

•of  the  Romans  and  bearing  the  reflex  of  probability,  in  the 
similar  pictures  of  horrors  which,  in  every  other  case  we 
have  described,  were  painted  by  the  historians'  pen,  as  in 
letters  of  blood,  warning  all  workingmen  of  the  ghastly 
wages  of  rebellion.  We  are  left  no  personal  description 
even  of  the  hero  of  this  great  uprising  which  involved  3 
years  of  savage  fighting,  many  drawn  battles  with  the 
Asians,  the  siege  and  taking  of  several  fortified  cities,  and 
the  defeat  and  disastrous  overthrow  of  one  large,  well-gen- 
eraled  and  thoroughly  equipped  consular  army  of  Rome. 
All  we  know  is  the  short  but  numerous  and  fully  corrobo- 
rated statements  given  as  cold  and  feelingless  facts,  by 
chroniclers  of  different  periods,  different  nationality,  senti- 
ment and  language.  To  suppose  this  to  have  been  an  ex- 
ception to  the  deeply  fixed  habit  of  intimidation  and  con- 
dign vengeance  of  the  Romans,  or  that  these  rebel  work- 
men were  treated  with  more  lenity  than  those  who  had  es- 
poused the  cause  of  Eunus  and  Cleon,  or  were  to  espouse 
in  the  coming  straggles  of  Tryphon  and  Athenion  or  of 
Spartacus  and  Crixus,  would  be  to  admit  that  unheard  of 
departure  of  the  Romans  from  a  tixed  principle.  No  ;  the 
scenes  of  blood-spilling  which  followed  the  downfall  of  Aris- 
tonicus  were  appalling.  But  that  very  blood  was  the  seed 
of  a  sect  which  soon  afterwards,  near  that  very  region,  bore 
fruits  destined  to  destroy  the  Pagan  system  of  slavery  and 
to  rear  a  new  one  based  upon  kindness,  forbearance,  mutual 
love,  brotherhood  and  recognized  equality  of  the  human 
race. 

own  debatable  grounds  regarding  their  origin  as  well  as  their  immense  numbers. 
What  were  they;  who  were  they;  whence  are  they?  Our  answer  is  that  they 
were  nothing  other  than  labor  societies,  which  for  hundreds  of  years  had  been 
legalized  at  Rome,  in  Greece,  in  Egypt.  (See  Herodotus,  II.  164-8  and  177,  which, 
makes  it  almost  certain  that  Solon  carried  his  law  from  Eygpt),  everywhere: 
but  which  the  then  existing  anti-labor  hostility  at  Rome,  caused  by  the  greed 
of  Roman  land  and  slave  speculators  and  their  politicians,  was  in  a  desperate 
struggle  to  subdue,  by  a  measure  (which  they  finally  passed),  known  in  modern 
times  as  conspiracy  laws.  After  this  hostility  set  in,  the  poor  creatures  were 
obliged  in  conformity  to  some  law,  to  shield  themselves  by  the  cloak  of  ostenta- 
tious religious  rites,  graved  into  their  inscriptions;  and  it  is  here  that  the  arch- 
•sologiats  are  misled. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

ATHENION. 

ENORMOUS  STRIKE  AND  UPRISING  IN  SICILY. 

SECOND  SICILIAN  LABOR-WAR — Tryphon  and  Athenion — Greed 
and  Irascibility  Again  Grapple — The  "War  Plan  of  Salvation 
Repeated  by  Slaves  and  Tramps — Athenion,  another  remark- 
able General  Steps  Forth — Castle  of  the  Twins  in  a  Hideous 
Forest — Slaves  goaded  to  Revolt  by  Treachery  and  Intrigue 
of  a  Politician — Rebellion  and  the  Clangor  of  War — Battle 
in  the  Mountains — A  Victory  for  the  Slaves  at  the  Height* 
of  Engyon — Treachery  of  Gaddaeus  the  Freebooter — Decoy 
and  Crucifixions — Others  cast  Headlong  over  a  Precipice — 
The  Strike  starts  up  Afresh  at  Heraclea  Minoa — Murder  of 
Clonins  a  rich  Roman  Knight — Escape  of  Slaves  from  his 
Ergastulum — Sharp  Battles  under  the  Generalship  of  Salvius 
— Strife  rekindles  in  the  West— Battle  of  Alaba — The  Pro- 
praetor punished  for  his  bad  Administration — Victory  Again 
Wreathes  a  Laural  for  the  Lowly — A  vast  Uprising  in  West- 
ern Sicily — Athenion  the  Slave  Shepherd — Another  Fanatical 
Crank  of  Deeds — Rushing  the  Struggle  for  Existence — Fierce- 
Battles  and  Blood-spilling — What  Ordinary  Readers  of  His- 
tory have  not  heard  of — Fourth  Battle;  Triokala — Meek 
Sacrifices  by  the  Slaves,  to  the  Twins  of  Jupiter  and  Tha- 
lia— March  to  Triokala— Jealousy — Groat  Battle  and  Car- 
nage— Athenion  Wounded — He  escapes  to  Triokala  and  re- 
covers— Fifth  Battle — Lucullus  marches  to  the  Working- 
men's  Fortifications — Batte  of  Triokala — The  Outcasts  Vic- 
torious— Lucullus  is  lo«t  from  View — Sixth  Battle — Servil- 
ias,  another  Roman  General  Overthrown — The  Terrible 
Athenion  Master  of  Sicily  and  King  over  all  the  Working- 
People — Seventh  and  Final  Field  Conflict — Battle  of  Macella 
— Death  of  Athenion — Victory  this  Time  for  the  Romans — 
End  of  the  Rebellion — Satyros,  a  powerful  Greek  Slave  es- 
capes to  the  Mountains  with  a  Force  of  Insurgents — They 


A    CONGRESS  OF  RUNAWAY  SLAVES.  247 

are  finally  lured  to  a  Capitulation  by  Aquillius  who  treacher- 
ously breaks  Faith  and  consigns  them  as  Gladiators  to  Rome 
— They  fight  the  Eighth  and  last  Battle  in  the  Roman  Am- 
phitheatre among  wild  Beasts — A  ghastly  mutual  Suicide — 
The  Reaction — Treachery  of  Aquillius  Punished — The  Gold- 
Workers  pour  melted  Gold  down  his  Throat. 

AN  enormous  and  memorable  uprising  or  strike,  both  of 
slaves  and  wage  workers  of  antiquity,  occurred  in  Sicily,  be- 
ginning 29  years  after  the  close  of  the  war  of  Eunus,  which 
ended  B.  C.  133,  bringing  the  date  at  B.  C.  104. 

As  in  the  account  we  have  given  of  the  first  servile  war 
of  Eunus,  Achaeus  and  Cleon  we  have  followed  the  ad- 
mirable chronology  and  other  points  of  Dr.  Karl  Bticher, 
so  in  this  second  war,  we  follow  the  splendid  elaboration 
of  Prof.  Otto  Siefert,  the  learned  doctor-professor  at  the 
college-gymnasiun  of  Altona.1 

It  has  already  been  observed  that  there  existed  among 
the  ancients,  an  occasional  asylum  where  slaves  and 
freedmen  driven  to  straits  by  the  cruelty  of  others,  could 
in  emergencies,  flee  and  hide  in  security,  under  the  pro- 
tecting aegis  of  a  certain  divinity.  There  existed  such  an 
asylum  in  Sicily.  It  was  located  on  the  sombre  shores  of 
two  small  lakes  eastward  from  Syracuse  in  the  interior. 
The  asylum  was  built  in  honor  of  the  Palikoi,  twin  child- 
ren of  Jupiter  and  the  nymph  Thalia.  The  legend  is,  that 
out  from  the  surface  of  one  of  the  lakes  a  hideous  column 
of  sulphurous  waters  sprang  high  into  the  air  like  a  foun- 
tain, causing  an  unendurable  smell  and  a  deafening  roar.* 
Here  stood  a  temple  or  Pagan  convent  and  asylum.  All 
around  was  the  hideous  forest.  In  view  near  by  was  a 
craggy  mountain-steep  where  dwelt  elves  and  urchins, 

1  Siefert,  Sklavenkritge  auf  SiciKen,  Altona,  1860, 8.  24-40,  Brochure.  We  quote 
his  note  89,  S.  36,  on  the  sources  of  information  whence  we  derive  our  knowledge 
of  this  uprising,  and  the  duration  of  time  it  occupied,  as  follows :  "  Quellen 
deeses  zweiten  Sklavenkrieges  Bind :  Florus,  Epitom.  Historiarum  Romanarum, 
lib.  III.  cap.  19 ;  Dion.  Cass.  Exc.  Peiresc.  101,  104 ;  Diodor  XXXVI.  Liv.  LXIX. 
Die  Dauer:  6  niv  ovc  xari  2i/ceAi'ai>  rSiv  oixeriai'  n-oAenos  Sia^tiVas  «r>)  <r\t&6v  JTOU 
T«Vrapa  Tpayt/CTjv  e<r\t  TTJV  Ka.ra<TTpo<t>r]v.  M.'Aquillius  beendigte  ihn  im  J.  99, 
nachdem  er  101  als  Consul  den  Oberbefehl  Ubernommen  hatte ;  als  der  Kriag  aus- 
brach,  war  Licinius  Nerva  Propraetor,  uach  ihm  kommandierten  L.  LucuUus  nnd 
C.  Servilius:  also  begann  die  Empbrung  im  Laufe  des  Jahres  104.  Euseb.  Arm. 
•etzt  irrtKumlich  das  Ende  um  4  Jahre  spater  an  auf  Olympiad.  171,  2,  (95)." 
The  events  being  obscure  though  thrilling  and  often  highly  romantic,  we  shall 
reproduce  verbatum  many  of  the  paragraphs  of  these  and  several  other  highly 
respectable  contributors  to  the  history. 

2  Aristotle  on  Wonders,  57.  Diod.  Sic.  XI.  88-90.  IlaAiicuv  Atftvt).  It  seems  to 
have  been  a  forest  marsh  or  swamp. 


248  ATHENION. 

demons  of  the  mountain  and  of  the  wailing  woods.  Satyrs 
and  wizzards  danced  the  mad  antics  of  fury  to  the  seolian 
strain  of  their  harps;  while  Thalia,  mother-goddess  of  the 
twins,  smiled  on  them  as  their  idy]lic  muse;  and  her  guard- 
ian command  hushed  the  frenzied  winds  and  waters,  and 
balmed  their  sulphurous  odors  with  the  breath  of  encour- 
agement. s 

This  was  the  spook  and  goblin-haunted  asylum  where,  in 
the  summer  of  B.  C.  104,  a  large  number  of  naked,  hard- 
worked  and  sweat-begrimed  slaves  gathered  together  for 
the  protection  of  the  institution.  They  were  stragglers 
from  Syracuse  who  had  undergone  an  examination  of  their 
eligibility  to  life  and  liberty. 

What  was  the  deep  motive  which  inspired  so  strange  a 
visitation  as  this,  coming  unheralded  to  the  old  castle  at  the 
swamps  of  the  twins  ? 4  The  workingmen  had,  as  it  were,  of 
their  own  spontaneous  instincts,  centered  there  for  safety ! 
A  full  explanation  of  this  is  a  history  of  one  of  the  most 
desperate  and  sanguinary  rebellions  recorded  in  history. 

Marius  was  one  of  the  two  consuls  of  Rome  in  B.  C. 
104.  In  order  to  help  him  carry  out  the  war  measures 
which  had  been  determined  upon,  the  Roman  Senate  had 
authorized  him  to  secure  troops  by  conscription  from 
the  conquered  provinces.  Sicily,  ever  since  the  Punic 

»  Diod.  XI.  89  'Eiret  Se  irtpl  TUV  6eS>v  rovTiav  eiJ.vrjo-6ijtJ.cv,  OVK  of  toV  eori  v zpahiirtiv 
7r)v  jrepi  TO  iepbp  dpxa<.OT7)T<i  re  Kai  TTJV  aTrio-rlav  Kai  TO  o~vvo\ov  TO  irepl  TOVS  oyo/uaf- 
o/itVoi  5  (cparijpas  tOtu/ia.  Mv0oAoyoOo"i  yap  TO  Tefifvos  TOVTO  oia<j>epeiv  TUIV  d\\iav 
apxaioTTjTi  Kai  o-ef}ao~n<a,  jroAAcof  ev  O.VTW  irapaoofciav  yeyevrmfvuiv.  Ilpuror  fj.fv  yap 
KpaTTJpe?  tieri  T<?  peyeBfi  fiev  ov  Kara  irav  jieydAoi,  ffiuvOrjpas  &'  efaio-iovy  a>a/3riAAov- 
res  ej  a/ivSjjTOu  jSuSoii  xai  irapajrAjjo-ioc  ej(OVTes  Ti)v  ffrvo-iv  Tols  AC^TJCTI  TOIS  VJTO  nvpbt 
jroAAou  (coio/^efoi?  itai  TO  iJS<ap  oidirvpov  avafia.\\ovariV.  'E/^c/jao'ti'  ftev  ovv  ex€t  ^b 
a.vaf$a.\\6fJievov  ii&utp  <os  vrrdpytt.  oidirvpov,  ov  fj.r)v  ducpi/Si;  TTJ^  firiyv<oo~iv  eyet  6ia  Tb 
firjoeva  TO\fiav  aijiaadai  TOVTOV  TijAi»cavTj)v  yap  fXei  KaTonr^rj^iv  r)  Tiav  i/ypiav  ava)3oA>;, 
tt>5T«  ooKeiv  iiirb  deias  Tivbs  avayicr)?  yivf<j6ai  TO  o~v fiftatvov .  Tb  fj.iv  yap  ij&utp  deiov 
ttaTCLKOpov  TT)v  o<T<j>pi)ariv  e\ei,  TO  6e  x<xo>ia  fipotiov  iroAvv  Kai  <j>ofiepvi>  e£ii)o-i,  TO  fii 
4r)  Tovrcuf  jrapa6ofoTfpo»'.  oiJTf  v/77«peicxe'Tat  To  vypbv  oi>Tf  aTroAeiTrei,  Ki.vri<riv  ok  Kai 
/St'ai'  pev^iaTos  fit  i/i/ios  t'f atpo/xeV>)v  f\ei  6avfi.dffi.ov  ToiavTj;?  6e  fleorrpeTretas  ou<r?)s 
irepi  TO  Tep.tvos,  oi  fieyitTTOt  tiav  opxtav  tvravOa  <rvi>Tc\ovvTo.i,  KOI  TOIS  eiriopK^flfaai 
avvToiioi  YI  TOW  oaifnoviov  KoAatri?  d<toAovSei'  Tives  yap  TTJS  opocrew?  aTeprjfleVTev  riji' 
«/c  TOU  TeneVof?  atfrooov  troioui'Tat.  MtAaArjs  {'  ouo~T)!ieio-i6ai^iovi'as,  oi  Tas  aju<j>i;/3i}- 
ri}(Tets  cxorTes,  oTav  VTTO  TU'OS  vncpoxijv  KaTto~xvwvTai,  TJJ  £ia  Tail/  opxcoc  TOUTWy 
•vjpeo"€i  (cpii-oi'Tai.  "EoTi  8e  IOUTO  TO  Tt/iefot  ex  Tiviav  \p6i'&v  iio~v\ov  TerrjprujLfvov , 
Kai  TOIS  aTvxoi'cnt>  oi(C€Tais  »cai  Kvptoi;  ayfujitoat  TrepurcTrTcoitberi  jroAAJ)!'  7rap«x£Tot 
poi'lOtiav.  Tois  yap  eis  TOUTO  KaTai^vyovTas  OVK  l\3v<Tii'  t£ovffiav  ot  Sean-oTai.  /Siattof 
oj7(iy«i>')  Kai  M'XP'  TOVTOV  fiia^.tVov<riv  do~ti'eis  M<XPl  n>/  '7r^  fiiwpto'joiei'ois  ^lAai'Spai- 
«roi5  ireiVai'Tes  oi  xvpiot  Kai  SCPTCS  6cd  TUV  cipKw^  Tas  irepi  Tcof  OJbioAoyutfV  Trio-Tt is 
KaToAAayuio"f  Kai  ov6«i?  i<7ToptiTat  TWV  St&iaKOTtav  rois  oiKeVats  •niaTiv  7ravT>;v 
»rapa|8ds'  OVTW  yap  17  Twi'  6f£>v  Se^eriiat/iovi'a  TOVS  o^ioaai'Tas  irpot  TOWS  SovAovt  jrtrTovv 
r  citi.  'E<TTt  of  Kai  TO  Te'fif vos  ev  ireSiiZ  fitoirpeirei  Kctfifl'OV  Kai  aToats  Kai  Tals  aAAai? 
KttTaAvo'eo'ii'  ixafwi  Kftcoo-nrjutvov. 

*  Id.  See  note  above.  "Mv0oAoyoOo-i  yap  TO  Te'^^^o?  TOVTO  Sia<j>epetv  run 
uAAuvapxttioTiJTi  Kai  o-«/3ao>iCj>,  woAAaji-  ev  avTia,  rrapa66fa)f  yeycrinivtav." 


CAUSES   OF   THE    TROUBLE.  249 

wars  had  been  one  of  these  provinces.  Almost  every 
human  creature  not  possessing  the  blood  of  a  gens  family 
in  this  palaestra  of  suffering  was  now  a  slave.5  The  con- 
dition, bad  enough  before,  was  rendered  worse  if  possible, 
by  the  ghastly  defeat  of  the  200,000  slaves,  in  their  up- 
rising and  war  of  rebellion  under  Eunus  a  generation  be- 
fore.6 But  it  was  for  Nicomides,  king  of  Bithynia,  in  far 
off  Asia  Minor,  to  kindle  the  war- fagots.  Bithynia  though 
a  kingdom  of  some  independence  was  nevertheless  a  sat- 
rapy of  Rome;  and  the  order  of  Marius  the  consul,  that 
Nicomides  should  levy  troops  out  of  his  dependency,  for 
the  Roman  army,  could  not  be  carried  out  for  the  reason 
that  the  rapacious  Roman  tax-gatherers  known  as  publi- 
cans '  had  sold  almost  everybody  into  slavery  and  it  was 
degrading,  and  contrary  to  all  law  and  rule  of  antiquity 
except  in  the  severest  emergencies,  to  make  soldiers  of 
slaves.  This  made  the  senatus  consulti  a  dead  letter. 
Rome  was  vast  in  actual  dominion  at  this  time  and  any 
law  touching  one  part,  generally  held  good  also  for  any 
other.  It  was  found  on  test  that  also  in  Sicily,  the  major- 
ities were  slaves  and  that,  like  Xicomides,  so  also  Nerva, 
propraetor  over  Sicfy  under  Marius,  was  cut  off  from  the 
nope  of  supplying  1  is  jiiota  of  troops  for  the  Roman  army. 
What  was  to  be  done  ?  On  an  investigation  it  was  found 
that  most  of  the  workingmen  best  able  to  bear  amis,  were 
slaves.  Again,  their  owners  were  unwilling  to  hear  to 
their  being  set  free.  It  would  be  a  loss  of  property. 
These  clubbed  together  and  pooled  their  money,  being 
politicians  enough  to  know  that  an  offer  of  a  bribe  would 

•  Diodorus  Sicnlus,  BiblioOiecce  Hittoricce  Reliqwz,  XXXVI.  ili.  1,  2,  3:  "  Kari 
TTJV  eiri  roil?  Ki'/x/Spovs  TOV  Mapiov  <TTpaT«iav  i&taictv  V)  <rvyic\ifTos  efovcri'ov  r<f 
MIDI'U  «  TUV  trepav  fiaAaTTTjscOfwi'  fieTaire'/iTr«T0at  <rvM/i°X'al'-  '0/u.ei/ouv  Mapiot 
n\jit  irpbj  NiKO/ni^nr  TOP  rrjs  BiOvi'i'at  /3acriAe'a  irepl  /3or)0«i'a9'  6  Ce  dirdxpiair 
rove  jrAeiovs  Tu>c  Biflurwc  VTTO  ruv  St]uo<riiav!av  jtapiraycfTa?  &ov\evetv  ivrals 
ic"?.  T^s  Si  ffvyxAT/Tov  J<T;<^i<rofien7v  oirut  (irj^tis  trvMfiX05  c\€v6€pos  tv 
fovXevTj  »tai  rijs  rovriav  cA«v0ep«j(7«o$  oi  <rrpaTrjyoi  vpovomv  jroiwvrat.  Tore 
2i«Aiai'  a>v  c-rpaniyos  AiKtVtof  Nepou'a?  axoAovOut  TCU  Saffian  <rv\vovs  ruv 
Sovkoiv  i]f(.tvSepta<rt,  <tpi'o-cc5  irpi'peis  irpo0ct9,  ou?  iv  oXi'-yais  f,/iepai?  TrAeiov?  ^^av 
OKToxoffiiav  TVX*IV  T->)S  «A«v9fpias.  Kai  TI<JO.V  Tratret  oi  Kara  rijc  K^uof  iouAtvoires 
ftfo^upoi  Trpbt  TTji-  e\ev9tpiav." 

6  Diodoma,  XXXIV. /ra^.  II.  18. 

T  The  publicani  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  vectigalarii  as  tax  collectors. 
The  latter  were  workingmen  with  a  plebeian  society.  The  publicans  were 
blooded,  grasping  aristocrats,  belonging  to  the  equitet  and  were,  according  to 
Cicero,  the  "flos  equitum  Romanornm,  ornamentum  civitatis,  firmamentnm 
reipublicse"  (Pro  Plane.),  words  characterktic  of  this  boasting  aristocrat.  The 
publicans  scattered  horror  and  destruction  everywhere.  Se«  New  Tatament,  also 
Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  art.  "  Publican*." 


1250  ATHENION. 

have  the  desired  effect  upon  the  propraetor  Nerva.1 
it  appears,  took  the  bribe;  but  in  doing  so,  performed 
some  queer  diplomatical  gymnastics  in  order  to  glide 
away  from  a  semblance  of  blame  and  thus  unintentionally 
set  the  whole  island  into  an  uproar.  He  had  first  pub- 
lished a  proclamation  requiring  all  slaves  who  believed 
themselves  entitled  to  emancipation,  to  come  and  receive 
their  liberty.  This  was  under  a  new  law  just  enacted  by 
the  senate  at  Rome.  The  law  was  suited  to  the  emergency 
and  was  indited  to  read  that  subjects  must  no  longer  be 
seized  by  the  publicans  and  sold  for  taxes;  and  that  those 
who  had  been  thus  sold  should  be  entitled  to  appear  be- 
fore city  officials  of  their  vicinity  and  receive  tl  eic  liberty.* 

Now  what  was  the  governor  to  do  ?  The  slaves  to  the 
number  of  800,  having  become  aware  of  this  by  the  pro- 
clamation actually  calling  them  in  and  eager  for  liberty, 
had  escaped  from  their  masters,  probably  by  running 
away  and  were  already  thronging  around  the  propraetor 
.  in  impatient  expectancy  of  the  promised  papers  of  eman- 
cipation, hoping  to  join  the  Roman  army  and  thus  become 
free  and  honored  men.  Alas  1  No  such  happiness  was 
in  reserve  for  them.  The  miserable  liar,  ready  to  grasp 
his  bribe  even  at  the  expense  of  sullying  conscience  with 
malfeasance  in  office,  when  the  banded  slave  owners 
thickened  around  him  pressing  on  all  sides,  issued  another 
edict  to  the  slaves  advising  them  to  go  back  to  their  mas- 
ters with  the  treacherously  perfidious  supplement  that  he 
would  stand  between  them  and  all  harm. 

Struck  down  with  horror,  the  poor  wretches,  feeling  that 
in  their  surreptitious  escape  they  had  partly  taken  the 
initiative  in  procuring  their  own  freedom  and  knowing 
the  dreadful  extent  of  vengeance  which  awaited  them  on 
their  returning  to  the  now  exasperated  masters,  betook 
themselves  as  stated,  to  the  citadel  of  the  twins  at  the 
lakes  of  the  P/'ikoi.  And  well  they  might;  if  we  may  be- 
lieve the  words  of  FJorus  who  of  all  other  writers  had  the 
least  sympathy  for  the  slaves  in  rebellion.10  Yet  Florua 

»  This  statemsnt  is  made  on  the  strength  of  Dion  Cassias  (frag.  101),  who  inr 
timates  as  much  in  speaking  of  the  sums  pooled  by  the  slave  owners. 

9  Diud.  Sic.  BiUioUieca  XXXVI, /ra<?.  iii.  2.  as  quoted  in  note  5,  q.  v. 

10  Florus,  Epit.  Rerum  Rom.an.orum,  lib.   III.  cap.  XIX.  S.  1,  speaking  of  the 
first  servile  war  says:  Utcumque  etsi  cum  sociis  (net'as!)  cum  liberis  tarnen  et 
ingenuis  dimicatum  est.     This  word  nefut  characterizes  the  struggle  as  a  blas- 
phemy. 


TEE  SLA  VES  BREAK  L  0  OSE.     FIRST  Fl  GET.   251 

describes  them  as  prisoners  in  chains.  All  over  Sicily 
there  existed  prisons  called  in  Latin  ergaatida,  in  Greek 
ergasteria,  where  slaves  were  kept  in  custody  over  night  in 
irons.  Some  were  forced  to  work  in  these  dens;  but 
most  of  them  were  marched  out  in  the  early  morning  to 
their  grinding  labors  on  the  farms."  During  the  servile 
war  20  years  before,  Eunus  attacked  these  horrid  slave- 
pens  and  set  fully  60,000  of  the  manacled  slaves  at  liberty.1* 
These  immediately  joined  his  great  army  of  revolution, 
swelling  it  to  such  an  extent  that  the  slaves  were  victori- 
ous in  many  battles. 

What  took  place  at  the  asylum  in  the  forest  of  Jupiter's 
twins  we  are  but  imperfectly  told.  They  conspired;14 
though  as  in  the  case  of  every  strike  of  the  ancient  slaves, 
so  also  here,  our  histories  are  riddled  to  fragments.  But 
enough  has  been  preserved  from  the  ruthless  vandal's 
hand  to  make  clear  what  we  shall  with  confidence  relate. 
A  most  bloody  and  devastating  war  soon  burst  forth, 
spreading,  in  a  few  days  over  nearly  all  of  Sicily. 

There  is  a  town  now  called  Scillato  but  in  those  days 
the  Sicilian  Greeks  knew  the  place  by  the  name  of  Ancyle.14 
Here  a  massacre  announced  and  kindled  the  first  flames 
of  war.  Thirty  slaves  organized  under  a  leader  named 
Oarius,  broke  chains  in  the  night,  set  upon  their  masters 
and  murdered  them  in  their  sleep.  Later  in  the  same 
night,  probably  through  the  action  of  the  first  thirty,  200 
more  slaves  were  delivered  from  their  shackles,  or  at  least 
from  bondage,  and  the  whole  neighborhood  was  made 
hideous  by  scenes  of  terror  which  they  enacted.  It  was 
at  the  slopes  of  the  Nebrode  heights  not  far  from  the  town 
of  Engyion.  A  fastness  crowned  the  height  which,  like 

11  Flor.  19,  "  Hie  ad  cultum  agri  frequents  ergastula,  catenatique  cultores." 
i*  Idem.  c.  6    "  Hoc  miraculum  primum  duo  millia  ex  obviis,  mox  jure  belli 
refractia  ergastulis,  eexaginta  amplius  millium  fecit  exercitura."    See  war  of 
Eunus  chap.  IX. 

"  Liiod.  XXXVI.  frag.  iii.  3.  Dind.  saye:  Oi  6"  iv  afiio/xao-i  <rvvSpa.n6vrtt 
TtaptKa.\u\jv  TOV  <jTpa.vi\y*ov  ajroo'Tijcai  TOUTTJS  rijs  cirijSoAi}?.  'O  4"  tlrt  xpq/uaai 
ireiaflfis  tire  xa.pi.ri  SouAeu'aas,  TTJS  fiiv  rlav  Kpirqpiiav  rovriav  (TTrovfijj?  oJreffTTj,  ical 
TOU?  irposiovras  firi  ria  Tv%eiv  TTJS  cAeudcpt'a;  tTriirATJrnov  ci?  TOUS  16101/5  Kvpiovt 
irpOfiTaTTtv  eiracaorpc'ijxii'.  Oi  <5e  iouAot  crvtrTpa^ei'Te?,  cat  riav  2vpaKOV<r<uv  airaA- 
Aoy«i/Tes,  (cat  K<na<(>vy6i're<;  ei?  TO  Ttav  naAiKaif  T«fi«i/os,  Sif\a.\ovv  irpbf  aAArjAovc 

iin-ep  <liro<rTa<r«ws.  Nothing  however,  can  be  clearer  than  this  fragment  of  Dio- 
doriiB.  The  slaves,  screened  from  harm  by  the  hospitable  old  temple,  had  lei- 
sure to  organize  their  rebellion  on  a  prodigious  scale,  which  they  accomplished 
with  effect. 

14  Siefert,  Sicilisclie  Sklavenaufstdnde,  S.  36,  note  71,  points  to  Cicero,  Verret. 
III.  45,  who  writes  it  "  Incilienses,"  and  concludes:  "die  Stadt  1st  auf  dem  N»- 
brodengebirge  in  der  Niihe  von  Engyion  zu  suchen." 


252  ATHENION. 

the  asylum  of  the  Palikoi  offered  the  slaves  security.  Here 
they  fortified  themselves,  received  allies,  sent  strong  and 
fearless  scouts  to  cut  the  bands  and  set  their  fellows  free 
and  thus  in  a  few  days  so  augmented  their  force  that  by 
the  time  the  Roman  praetor  made  his  appearance  with  an 
army  to  put  down  the  emeut,  they  were  strong  enough  to 
offer  front. 

This  first  organized  resistance  of  the  slaves  was  how- 
ever, destined  to  meet  with  disaster  through  treachery. 
A  man  named  C.  Titinius  Gaddeeus  probably  of  Roman 
and  possibly  of  noble  stock,  prowled,  in  those  days,  about 
this  country,  in  the  capacity  of  a  marauder.  He  was  an 
escaped  convict,  having  a  considerable  time  before  been 
condemned  to  death  for  certain  crimes.  Wilh  a  banditti 
of  freebooters  of  his  ilk,  he  stole  about  at  night,  hiding  by 
day  in  the  inaccessible  fastnesses  of  the  mountain  and  thus 
by  robbery  and  deceit,  gained  a  precarious  living,  always 
on  the  alert  for  an  opportunity  and  always  destitute  of 
conscience.  The  propraetor,  Licinius  Nerva  who  was  the 
cause  of  the  disaffection  among  the  slaves,  sought,  and 
probably  by  promises  of  exoneration  secured,  the  alliance 
of  this  freebooter  who  subtly  set  about  making  the  friend- 
ship of  the  slaves  then  watching  an  opportunity  to  de- 
stroy the  militia  which  Nerva  had  levied  to  put  down  the 
trouble.  Gaddseus  succeeded  in  decoying  the  slaves  into 
an  ambush  and  by  arrangement  turned  the  poor  wretches 
over  to  the  Roman  governor  who  crucified  some  of  them 
and  others  he  killed  by  casting  headlong  from  a  high 
precipice  to  be  das  lied  to  jelly  upon  the  rocks.18 

Nerva  now  believed  the  trouble  to  be  over.  He  was 
even  foolish  enough  to  disband  his  forces,  consisting 
mostly  of  militia  whom  he  discharged  from  further  ser- 
vice and  sent  to  their  homes.  But  the  slaves  seem  to 
have  been  on  the  alert;  perhaps  encouraged  by  the  utter 
want  of  generalship  shown  by  Nerva.  The  question  now 
arises  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  how  poor,  enslaved,  ignor- 
ant creatures  many  of  whom  were  in  fetters,  could  have  been 
able  to  rebel  at  aU ;  n>uch  less  keep  a  correspondence  with 
others  sufficiently  to  know  what  was  going  on  at  different 
points.  The  answer  must  be,  that  they  felt  themselves  in 


«  Died   XXXVI.  in.   6,  fin.   Dind.  r<av  &'  airotrrarav  6c 
*6mja<7>>,  01  Se  TT\V  airb  TTJS  oAcuaew?  SeSidres  Ttfiwpi'av  eauroii? 


THROWN  HEADLONG  FROM  A  PRECIPICE.    253 

a  desperate  condition  and  combined  their  entire  energy 
and  intelligence  to  greater  effect  than  may  be  naturally 
imagined.  Men  engaged  in  such  desperate  adventures 
think  nothing  of  turning  night  into  day;  and  like  the 
similar  case  with  us  in  recent  days,  they  may  have  had 
secret  outposts  and  means  of  communication. 

At  any  rate,  the  Roman  general  had  hardly  disbanded 
his  force  when  the  war-cloud  gathered  in  another  part  of 
the  island.  A  rich  Roman  knight  named  P.  Clonius,18 
who  possessed  estates,  such  as  were  celebrated  in  history 
as  the  latifundia,  was  murdered  by  his  slaves  near  Hera- 
clea  Minoa  on  the  southeastern  coast  of  Sicily.  This  mur- 
der was  perpetrated  by  a  band  of  80  desperate  men  who 
concocted  their  conspiracy  during  the  lull  and  broke  from 
the  ergasfida  helping  each  other  by  signal,  to  free  them- 
selves. The  number  in  the  revolt  rapidly  increased.  The 
governor,  Licinius  Nerva,  was  now  in  a  helpless  condition, 
without  an  army.  The  slaves  rushed  in  every  direction, 
freeing  each  other,  and  pitched  tent  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  Alaba 17  coursing  at  the  foot  of  the  Mons  Caprianus, 
to  the  number  of  over  2,000  men.  This,  however,  occu- 
pied some  time,  during  which  Nerva  succeeded  in  mus- 
tering a  considerable  force  which  he  marched  or  trans- 
ported by  water  to  the  scene  of  war. 

The  distance  from  Syracuse  to  Heraclea  Minoa  is  not 
far  from  95  miles  in  a  straight  line  westward  but  follow- 
ing the  road  or  the  shortest  route  by  sea  around  the 
Portus  Odyssese  and  past  Agrigentum,  it  could  not  be 
less  than  130  miles.18  To  convey  his  army  and  impedimenta 
thither  and  fix  his  headquarters  at  Heracleia,  occupied  so 
much  time  that  it  must  have  been  toward  the  spring  of 
B.  C.  103,  before  anything  serious  transpired. 

On  a  favorable  position,  the  two  adversaries  drew  up 
in  line  of  battle.  The  name  of  the  Roman  commander 
was  M.  Titinius,1'  whose  forces  summed  up  the  largest 

18  Diod.  XXXVI.  iv.  1,  init:  "Toir  Se  <TTp<nita-r!av  irpos  TO.  oi/ceia  ij07f  oTroXv- 
ffevTtav.  JJKOI/  Ttve?  OTrayytAAofTts  OTI  HoirXiov  KAdvioi',  ytvofievov  'nrirea.  'Pcofiai'ajv, 
tiravatnavTts  01  £ov\oi  K<nfa^>a^a.v  bySoriKOvra.  ovrcs.  KO.I  OTI  jrAijflos  ayet'pov<ri." 

"  Diod    XXXVI    4.    "  f<j>(tys    6'    fyeovro  ruv  «i<7X>Aiw»-  OVK  eAaTTOUS."      ThU 

force  of  2,000  men  was  collected  within  7  days. 

18  In  relation  to  Xerva's  route  Diodorns  says  nothing. 

is  I  iod.  XXXV I.  4.  3.  Bind,  says:  MapxoK  Tirtmoi/.  Nevertheless  we  are 
constrained  to  think  Titinius  the  same  person  who  had  betrayed  them;  i.  e.  Titin- 
ius  Gydrtrens. 


254  ATHENION. 

number  that  the  Roman  prsetor,  with  the  addition  of  600 
men  drawn  from  the  fortress  of  Enna,  was  able  to  muster. 
On  the  whole,  relying  on  the  superior  armor  and  other 
equipments  of  his  own  men,  compared  with  the  destitute 
condition  of  the  workingmen,  who  depended  upon  butch- 
er-knives, sickles,  clubs,  slings  and  whatever  they  could 
grasp,  the  Romans  seem  to  have  had  the  advantage.  But 
the  rebels  besides  being  full  of  that  courage  which  des- 
peration inspires  and  anxious  to  meet  a  hated  foe,  had 
also  the  most  advantageous  position.  No  details  of  this 
battle  have  come  to  us  further  than  that  it  was  a  fierce 
and  bloody  encounter;  the  slaves  fighting  desperately  fol- 
lowing charge  with  charge,  dealing  such  ponderous  blows 
against  their  adversary,  composed  partly  of  raw  militia, 
that  the  latter  gave  way,  or  were  killed  on  the  spot.  The 
rout  of  the  Romans  now  became  general.  A  panic  seized 
them.  They  cast  away  their  arms  and  ran  for  life.  The 
slaves  grasping  their  weapons,  pursued  and  hacked  those 
whom  they  could  to  pieces,  scoring  a  signal  victory. 

The  strike  which  hitherto  had  manifested  itself  in  mur- 
muring and  an  occasional  outburst,  now  assumed  warlike 
proportions.  Section  after  section  of  the  island  broke 
away  from  their  masters  and  joined  the  gathering  army. 
The  force  under  drill,  soon  after  the  battle  at  the  Alaba 
river  is  reported  to  have  been  6,000 20  strong;  all  well 
equipped  with  the  best  of  arms  which  they  had  taken  from 
the  enemy.  Greatly  encouraged  by  this  first  victory,  they 
set  about  organizing  in  earnest  More  fettered  slaves  who 
were  working  in  chains  were  cut  loose  from  the  ergastula 
or  work-prisons.  These  glad  to  escape,  joined  the  rank 
and  file,  and  being  the  most  desperate  and  brave  made 
reliable  soldiers  in  the  insurrection. 

A  mass  meeting  was  now  called  for  the  election  of  a 
leader.  There  was  a  certain  character  who  had  signalized 
himself  as  a  man  of  great  energy,  named  Salvius.  This  man 
had  been  the  principal  in  the  movement  which  had  con- 
summated the  assassination  of  the  Roman  knight  Clonius, 
at  Heracleia  Minoa  ending  in  the  defeat  of  the  propraetor 

20  Diod,  XXXVI.  iv.  4:  "Kai  no\\iov  Kaff  rjfiepav  oiJicrTa^eVwi',  (rvvrofiov 
cat  Trapd&ofov  eAa/arJai/or  aufrjcru',  <!>?  ev  oAt'yous  i^jaepais  TrAeiovs  yeveadai  rOtv 
c£aicifXiAudi'.  'Ore  Srj  Kai  tit  eKK\r\tria.v  <7Wf\S6fTtt  <cat/3ovArj?  TrpOTeiJeierrjs  TtpioTOV 
fiiv  (t\avro  /3a(riA«'a  rov  bvofta£6u.iv«v  SaAouiOf  SOKOVVTO.  TJJS  icpOOTCOYiaf  efi7r«ipo»» 
•teat  Kai  rots  yvfaixeiaif  treats  aviAo^apoucTa." 


BATTLE    OF  THE  ALABA.     SALV1US.  255 

Licimus ll  Nerva  at  the  battle  of  the  Alaba  river.  Like 
Enuus,  the  slave-king  of  Enna  in  the  war  of  the  strikers, 
•which  had  ended  29  years  before,  he  was  a  prophet,  a 
worker  of  incantations,  a  flute-player,  and  dispensed  super- 
natural and  wonderful  doings  among  the  credulous  slaves 
and  freedmen.  A  slave  himself,  of  superior  bearing  and 
gift  of  command,  he  was  elected  by  acclamation  as  king.12 
King  Salvius  immediately  on  assuming  power,  turned  his 
attention  to  organization  and  order.  He  taught  his  wild 
and  often  gross-mannered  men  that  success  does  not  come 
from  savagery  and  rapine  nor  from  destruction  of  property 
by  laying  waste  the  country  and  its  fruits;  and  brought 
them  to  understand  that  an  unbridled  career  is  danger- 
ous. The  army  was  divided  into  three  divisions,  under 
his  three  picked  warriors  as  commanders,  and  marched 
off  at  different  angles  into  the  country  with  the  order  to 
reunite  at  a  given  point,  at  a  given  time,  bringing  with 
them  provisions.  The  plan  succeeded  exactly.  At  the 
appointed  time  and  place  the  three  divisions  again  united, 
having  collected  from  the  dairy  and  stock  farms  so  large 
a  quantity  of  sheep,  cattle,  horses,  grain  and  other  sup- 
plies that  the  question  of  want  for  the  army  which  had 
also  greatly  increased,  was  settled  for  a  long  time  to  come. 
Great  numbers  of  horses  had  come  into  the  hands  of 
Salvius.  A  force  of  cavalry  was  organized  2,000  strong, 
undoubtedly  well  equipped.  The  army  grew  to  the  ma- 
jestic proportions  of  20,000  foot  besides  the  cavalry — in 
all  22,000  combatants.**  With  activity  this  force  was 
drilled  to  discipline  and  fitted  for  receiving  the  approach- 
ing Koman  army.  King  Salvius  after  completing  prepa- 
rations for  a  campaign,  set  off  on  a  march  toward  Mor- 
gantion  situated  on  the  coast  of  Sicily,  near  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Symethus.  Morgantion  was  a  fortified  city  with 
a  citadel;  and  had  been  the  seat  of  a  terrible  conflict  be- 
tween the  slaves  and  the  Eomans  in  the  war  of  Eunus.24 
The  rebel  chieftain  hurriedly  conveyed  his  large  army 

n  Diodorne.  IV.  4.  characterizes  Salvius  as  a  Slave  who  knew  the  arts  of, 
prophecy  and  could  play  the  flute  or  horn.  He  wag  a  favorite  with  women  and 
possessed  the  mysterious  arts  of  slight  of  hand.  See  note  20,  fin. 

22  Siefert.  Sicilifhe  Sklavenkeifge,  8.  27,  "Indess  zeigte  Salvine  doch  eine 
grbgsere  Befahigung  fnr  seine  Stellung.  alg  etch  nach  seinem  friiheren  .Leben 
erwarten  leiss."" 

"  Diod  XXXVI.  frag,  iv,    SS  7.  7.  8,  Dind. 

44  .-ee  chap.  IT.,,  on  the  Servile  war  of  Kimus. 


256  ATHENION. 

thither,  a  distance  from  Heracleia  Minoa  of  about   one 
hundred  miles. 

The  Roman  prcetor  knowing  that  greater  mischief  was 
meant,  had  in  the  meantime  collected  an  army,  partly  from 
Italy,  partly  from  Sicily,  as  well  as  of  stragglers  who  had 
survived  the  last  disaster — in  all,  amounting  to  10,000 
men.  With  this  force  he  marched  day  and  night  in  or- 
der to  arrive  at  Morgantion  before  the  rebels  could  reach 
the  place.  This  he  appears  to  have  succeeded  in  doing 
but  found  nobody  but  the  women  and  children  of  the 
slaves;  for  the  men,  aware  of  the  near  approach  of  Salvius 
and  his  army  had  escaped  to  a  hiding  haunt  which  they 
frequented,  by  a  gate  or  other  means  of  egress  through  the 
walls,  during  a  dark  night.  Salvius  now  determined  to 
give  his  enemy  battle.  He  led  his  troops  in  solid  phalanx 
and  good  order  against  the  praetorian  army,  making  the 
attack  with  such  a  shock  as  to  stagger  him  by  the  onset 
It  appears  from  a  remark  made  by  Diodorus  that  the  praetor 
must  have  had  slaAresas  a  part  of  his  force;  for  Salvius, 
taking  advantage  of  some  opportunity,  gave  the  soldiers 
of  the  Roman  army  to  understand  that  they  would  be  freed 
if  they  threw  down  their  arms.  As  a  result  the  Roman 
troops  began  to  throw  away  their  weapons  and  save  them- 
selves by  flight.  A  panic  was  thus  created  and  the  rout 
became  general.  Salvius  pursued  and  succeeded  in  tak- 
ing 4,000  Italians  and  Sicilian  Greeks,  while  600  were 
killed  on  the  spot.25  Large  quantities  of  arms  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  again  victorious  rebels,  together  with  all  the 
munitions  of  war  that  were  stored  in  the  magazines.  The 
victory  before  Morgantion  was  complete.  Quantities  of 
armor  and  campaign  equipments  were  taken,  together 
with  provisions  for  maintaining  the  siege  of  the  city  itself. 
Certain  it  is,  that  after  the  battle,  the  Roman  praetor  re- 
tired within  the  fortress  of  Morgantion  with  his  remain- 
ing troops,  and  by  promising  the  slaves  the  boon  of  lib- 

2">  Died,  XXXVI.  iv.  7.  "  Oi  &'  airoardrai  c£ai'0io}f  ivfWR#4M*Ml  *«'  virtp- 
Se£tov  -ri)V  arda-tv  t^o^Tc?,  $»")S  dv-reiridctifvot,  icai  vnepSefiov  ryv  atdaiv  i\oi>Tf<;t 
£ia;a>>  re  eTTippaf apre?,  evtfvt  eirl  7rpOTep»jju.aTos  faav  oiSe  TOV  <TTp*.Triyov  «Tpa7T7)<raf 
wpos  <t>vyT]V.  Toy  Se  /SaffiAeu)?  Tutv  dirotTTa-Ttav  jc^pi/yjua  iroifjO'afj.fi'Ov  /xTjfieVa  KTeiVetc 
Tiav  TO  owAa  piirrovvriav,  oi  wAeiffTot  purTOui'Tes  efitvyov-  Kai  roimo  TO>  rpoitiu  KOL- 
Ta<rTpaTi7y»j<7'as  TOWS  7roAe/u.iovs  6  SaAovio?  T*\V  re  impe/n/SoA^r  ave/cTTJo-aro  (cat  Tropi/36- 
ifTov  vint\v  anevfyicdtievos ,  TroAAu)  voir\u>v  exvpievyev,  'ATriBavov  &e  ei>  rfj  tadxji  TU>V 
'IraAiajTuJi'  re  «ai  ScxeAwi/  ou  jrAeiovs  ef a.Koai<ov  Sia  TYJU  TOV  XTjpuyfiaTOs  ^lAafi^pwiriaK, 


BATTLE   BEFORE   MORGANTION.  257 

prty,  which  indeed  all  those  poor  creatures  were  fighting 
for  without  really  knowing  how,  inspired  them  to  such 
valiant  resistance  against  their  fellow  slaves  ontside,  that 
for  a  long  time  no  progress  was  made  by  Salvius  in  get- 
ting possession  of  the  city  and  Dr.  Siefert  is  in  doubt 
whether  he  accomplished  it  at  ail.26  But  this  doubt  pro- 
ceeds from  a  misunderstanding  of  the  historical  fragment 
of  Diodorus,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  actual  genius 
of  this  theme.  Diodorus  who  so  long  has  been  misun- 
derstood, knew  perfectly  well  what  he  was  saying  when 
he  told  us  that  Salvius  when  his  army  had  grown  to  be 
30,000  strong  sacrificed,  after  the  conquest  of  Morgantion, 
to  the  twin  heroes — the  very  immortals  who  had  protected 
him  a  short  time  before,  at  a  short  distance  from  there,  in 
the  Asylum  of  the  poor  and  unprotected  slaves.  At  their 
forest  asylum,  amid  the  roar  of  waters  and  the  fumes  of 
sulphur  and  gloom  and  loneliness,  these  twin  sons  of  Ju- 
piter and  Thalia  had  entertained  and  protected  them  with 
the  ajgis  of  divinity  and  it  was  now  in  order,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  conquest  and  victoi-y  to  sacrifice  to  them  in  pur- 
ple and  splendors,  in  repayment.21 

Another  reason  why  the  Roman  praetor  lost  Morgan- 
tion is  that  he  had  been  treacherous  to  the  slaves  under 
his  command,  promising  them,  as  we  have  stated,  that  if 
they  fought  bravely  against  their  fellows  outside,  they 
should  have  their  freedom.  This  they  did  valiantly  bub 
the  perfidious  governor  again  lied  them  out  of  this  much, 
longed  for  and  expected  boon.  Whereupon  accepting  the 
offer  of  Salvius  to  spare  all  who  would  throw  down  their 
arms,  they  joined  their  fellow  rebels.**  Thus  again  the 
Romans  were  forced  to  open  their  eyes  and  behold  Sicily, 

*»  Siefert.  SMHsche  Sklavenkriegt,  S.  27.  "  Morgantion  abet  zn  nehmen  ge- 
lang  ihm  vor»rst  doch  nicht."  "Ob  in  Folgedessen  die  Stadt  flel,  iet  ana  der  er- 
haltenen  Bench  ten  night  mitzuveriassigkeit  ersichtlich.'' 

:T  Diod.  XXXVI.  vii.  1.    naAi/coi.''    The  exact  words  which  seem  to  have 

been  misunderstood,  are ;  "  'O  i«  rr\v  'Mopyavrivrjv  iroAtopiojcrat  SaAouiOf ,  ewiipa/xui' 
T7)v  \u>po.v  iJiix.pi  roy  .\fovrivov  ir(&iov,  ij&poitrev  aiirou  TO  <rvy.ira.v  <rTpaT«v/ia, 
f7riAe'icTOi>s  ap£,oa?  OVK  fAaTTOu?  riav  rpttytvptwr.  icai  <>ua-<i?  rots  IIaAi»cois  rjpaKTi, 
TOVTOIS ^fj.ev  avethiKt  fiiav  Ttav  a\ovpy!av  irepiirop<(>vptav  <TTO\r)v  \a.pi<rr^pta  TTJS  HKT/S, 
auro5  S  avayopevtras  favrbv  ^affiAea,  Tpvifxav  fiec  CITTO  riav  anoaTaTiav  Ttpowyoptvfro  " 

The  Innqnnge  is  unmistakable,  s  till  Dr.  Siefert  thus  ran ee«:  ''  rorhkornen  sich 
diese  Wurre  auch  anf  den  -:eg  Ubt-r  Liciniuo  Nerva  bezichen,  nnd  so  i.  I  s  wohl, 
da  iroAiop-crjo-a^  nicht  fu<;lich  iv.r  KcTroAiopxT/era?  genoinmen  wei-oen  kaun."  But 
the  whole  phrase  reads  plainly  ihit  Salvins  xvas  master  of  the  situation 

•»  Siefert,  Sicilishe  Sklarmknege.  S.  27.  "  Unbe^reiflicher  Weise  versagte 
der  Praetor  Qieeen  Versprechen  die  l'e?tiit:gnnj:  nnd  ttleb  dadurch  den  grotBien 
Theil  dieser  Tapfereu  in  das  i  a<;er  der  Autriihrer." 


258  ATHENION. 

their  "  granary  of  the  world,"  south  and  east,  in  the  hands  of 
surging,  pitiless  slaves  in  the  terrible  attitude  of  rebellion. 

Lilybseum  and  Segesta  or  the  old  .ZEgesta  stood  on  the 
Mediterranean  sea;  the  former  at  the  western  extremity, 
the  latter  northward  in  the  sinus  Segestanus,  25  miles 
apart.  This  new  scene  of  the  slave  rebellion  opens  150 
miles  or  more  from  that  of  the  battle  grounds  of  Morgan- 
tion.  No  newspapers,  no  railroads,  no  telegraphs  to  con- 
vey news  particulars  or  rumors  of  events.  How  then, 
in  a  reign  of  suppression  and  terror  among  maddened 
masters  with  their  whips,  chains,  ergastula  and  crucifixion- 
gibbits  and  their  optional  use,  could  all  the  slaves  of  Sicily, 
even  those  of  the  farthest  extreme,  have  known,  under- 
stood, reciprocated  with  each  other,  midst  these  awful 
tumults  of  self-enfranchisement? 

On  one  of  those  western  farms  of  Sicily  there  writhed 
in  the  fetters  of  compulsory  labor,  a  man  named  Athenion 
— a  slave,  yet  born  with  all  the  proud  and  lofty  impulses 
of  manhood.  Floras  who,  unlike  Diodorus,  spoils  his  his- 
tories with  unkind  allusions,29  unmindful  of  the  desperate 
acts  he  himself  might  have  resorted  to  under  similar  treat- 
ment, speaks  bitterly  of  him  but  in  his  words  of  vitupera- 
tion gives  us  valuable  facts.  This  man's  name  was  Athe- 
nion. He  was  a  Cilician  by  birth ; 30  but  having  a  supe- 
rior bearing  and  faculty  of  command,  had  charge  of  200 
herdsmen  on  one  of  the  great  stock  farms  of  that  produc- 
tive region  of  Sicily.  His  family  and  those  of  his  men  and 
fellow  slaves  were  kept  at  work  in  the  slave  pens  or  ergas- 
tula, as  distinctly  stated  by  Floras.  Athenion  and  his 
men  over  whom  he  officiated  as  boss  or  overseer,  feeling 
that  a  time  had  come  to  strike  the  blow  for  liberty  and, 
as  we  are  obliged  to  surmise,  posted  regarding  the  doings 
of  King  Salvius,  far  to  the  other  extremity  of  Sicily,  de- 
termined to  make  a  desperate  trial  to  obtain  freedom  from 
servility  and  degradation.31  He  imparted  his  plan  to  a 

29  Epitom  III.  19.  "  Athenio  pastor,  interfecto  domino,  familiam  erg .istulo 
liberatam  subsignis  ordinal.  Ipsevestepurpurea.  argenteoquebiculo  et  return 
in  mortm  fronte  redimita,  non  minorem,  quam  ille  fanaticus  prior,  conflat  exer- 
citum;  acriusqtie  raulto,  quasi  et  ilium  vindicaret.  vices,  casiella,  oppida  diripi- 
ens,  in  domiuos  in  servos  infes;ius,  quasi  in  transfuses  saeviebat." 

so  "Athenio  (  ilex  "  See  Dind.  paraphrase  of  Diod.  XXXVI.  v.  1.  Cilicia 
was  on  the  borders  of  Syria  in  Asia  Minor  but  a  few  mlies  from  Palestine,  lie 
hailed  from  near  the  stage  of  the  greater  movement  10U  years  later. 

»i  Diod.  XXXV  1.  v.  1-4. 


WARS  KINDLE  IN  WEST  SICILY.  259 

few  of  his  men.  The  result  was  that  at  an  appointed  time 
the  200  slaves  attacked  their  owners — two  millionaire 
brothers — killed  them,  ran  and  cut  the  fetters  from  their 
families  in  the  slave-prison,  set  them  free,  everywhere 
sounding  the  bugles  of  rebellion,  and  set  about  arming 
and  drilling  the  men  who  came  running  into  the  quarters 
from  all  directions,  begging  for  enrollment.  In  five  days 
there  were  more  than  a  thousand  slaves  under  arms,  with 
Athenion  as  leader. 

Athenion  was  another  man  of  wonders,  and  he  now  be- 
gan to  assume  the  unnatural  powers  of  Messiah,  king,  for- 
tuneteller, star-gazer  and  prophet.  The  result  of  such 
manoeuvres  of  course,  was  to  confirm  the  ignorant  slaves  at 
his  command,  in  the  belief  that  he  was  initiated  into  the 
favors  of  the  gods.  They  elected  him  king  of  the  rebel 
government.  Apparently  aware  of  the  methods  of  Eunus 
and  of  Salvius;  and  judging  in  his  own  way  the  errors  of 
their  plans,  Athenion  blocked  out  a  plan  of  his  own, 
unique  and  farsighted.  He  refused  to  except  all  the  slaves 
who  came  flocking  into  his  army,  mad  with  the  delirium 
of  revenge,  desperate  in  risks,  and  eager  for  war  to  the 
knife.  He  examined  them  and  accepted  only  those  whom 
he  judged  most  powerful,  obedient  and  fearless.  All  the 
rest  he  sent  back  to  their  old  employment  with  orders  to 
cultivate  the  land  and  multiply  the  stock  and  other  land 
products,82  lest  there  come  a  famine  which  would  be  more 
destructive  to  the  army  than  an  enemy  from  Rome.  He 
set  himself  up  as  a  star-gazer  and  proclaimed  to  his  men 
that  he  read  in  the  stars  how  he  was  to  be  the  king  over 
all  the  Sicilians.  Under  these  auspices  the  army  had  swol- 
len to  10,000  men.  We  are  distinctly  informed  that  he 
was  vain  enough  to  strut  about  considerably,  with  fine 
purple  and  sporting  a  silver  cane  ;33  but  the  kind-hearted 
reader,  in  view  of  the  shrewd  policy  of  this  conduct,  may 
see  fit  to  forgive  a  poor  branded  slave,  whose  only  clothes 
probably  had  hitherto  been  his  naked  skin.** 

The  first  campaign  of  Athenion  was  against  the  forti- 

**  Many  of  these  farms  however  were  now  entirely  in  their  own  hands,  the 

owners  having  been  killed. 

w  Flor  ,  Epitom.  III.  19.    "  Ipse  vesta  pnDurea.  argenteoque  bacnlo  " 

**  Diod.  XXXIV.  fras  ii.  38,  tells  the  story  of  the  slaves  of  Sicily  branded 

to  the  bone,  whipped  because  they  dared  ask  for  a  few  ra_^s  to  protect  them  from 

winter. 


260  ATHENION. 

fied  city  of  Lilybseum  which  he  attacked  with  his  10,000 
men.  The  siege  continued  for  some  time  without  suc- 
cess; and  he  concluded,  with  much  wisdom,  Dr.  Siefert 
says,35  to  raise  the  siege,  saying  that  the  gods  were  so  un- 
favorable to  the  taking  of  LilybaBum  that  a  disaster  was 
about  as  certain  as  a  victory.  The  wisdom  of  thus  desist- 
ing from  this  attempt  to  carry  the  city  by  siege,  Dr.  Siefert 
does  not  state.  Still  it  is  self-evident,  resting  upon  Athe- 
nion's  probable  information  of  the  arrival  from  Mauritania 
of  a  large  detachment  of  men  which  king  Bocchus,  a  de- 
pendent of  Rome,  had  dispatched  to  the  rescue  of  Lily- 
bseum. Even  as  it  was,  the  shrewd  slave-king  with  all  his 
efforts  to  vacate  did  not  succeed  without  his  being  attacked 
on  the  night  of  their  landing,  by  the  Moors  and  suffering 
considerably.  Athenion  who  seems  to  have  depended 
upon  his  gifts  of  imbibing  counsel  from  supernatural 
sources,36  did  not  expect  so  much  from  the  fortified  cities 
as  did  Eunus  and  Cleon,  whose  terrible  starvation  when 
hemmed  in  and  besieged  by  the  Romans  at  Morgantion 
and  Enna,  was  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  many.  Here 
he  seems  to  have  been  wise.  He  afterwards  found  that 
those  fortresses  if  left  to  themselves,  conquered  them- 
selves, as  it  were,  by  strifes  and  turmoils  of  the  citizens 
with  their  slaves  who  were  plotting  to  get  away  and  join 
the  insurgeuts  under  arms.  In  consequence,  the  rebels 
had  no  fear  of  the  cities  joining  the  Roman  forces;  since 
they  had  all  they  could  attend  to,  keeping  mischief  in  quell 
at  home.  The  whole  country,  however,  was  soon  in  pos- 
session of  the  strikers. 
A  new  source  of  the  insurgents,  strength  now  devel- 

"Sie'ert,  Sicilische  Sklavenkriege,  S.  27-28:  "Der  Sterndenterei  kundig, 
hatte  er  in  deu  Sternen  gelesen.  dass  er  Konig  iiber  ganz  Siciiien  sem  werde; 
deahalb  suchte  er  dtn  geordueten  Zustand  auf  der  Intel,  die  er  scnon  als  se  n 
Kit^e  nthum  ansah,  aufrecht  zu  erhalten.  Bin  Angriff  anf  das  feste  Lilybueon, 
den  er  mit  zehntansend  Mann  unternahm  gelang  zwar  nicht,  diente  aber  docii 
dazn,  den  Glanbtn  an  seine  Seheryabe  zu  bestarken.  Als  ernamlicb.  mit  grosser 
Klagheit  die  Belagernng  aafzuhemen  beschloss,  nnter  dem  Vorgeb,  n,  tien  *  <jt- 
t*>rn  j;e;a!le  diese  Unternehmung  nicht  and  man  konnte  eine  Niederla^e  hur 
durch  raschen  Abzug  vermeiden,  trat  schon  das  Verkilnd«te  ein.  tin  Korps 
manriscner  Hulfstruppen,  welches  der  nene  bnndesgenosse  der  Komer,  Koaig 
Bocchus  von  Mauretanien.  unter  Anfiihrang  des  domon  den  bedriingten  Lily- 
betanern  zugesendet  hatte,  machtesofort  nach  seiner  Landung  einen  nachtlichen 
Augriif  nnd  fugte  den  schon  im  Abmarsch  begrifEenen  Truppen  des  Ather.'on 
nicht  unbadeutenden  Sc  aden  zu." 

M  Cf.  Ruch-r  Aujtuinde  der  Unfreinen  Arbeiter.  S.  78.  "Man  darf  sich  die 
Schwierigkeiten.  welcheden  Fuhrer  einer  Skiavenbewegung  erwarteten,  ja  niokit 
Us  gering  vorstellen." 


CHEAP  LABOR,   TRAMPS,    VIOLENCE.          261 

oped  itself.  The  poor  free  people,  whose  condition  was 
oftentimes  worse  than  that  of  the  slaves  themselves,  came 
in  great  numbers  and  joined  the  phalanx  of  the  slaves." 
They  were  ground  to  powder  between  the  masters  and 
the  slaves.  Not  unfrequently  their  miserable  condition 
was  such  that  they  resorted  to  violence  of  themselves;  and 
many  being  organized  in  unions  as  we  have  shown,  they 
were  a  source  of  turmoil.*8  Thus  these  combined  sources 
of  power  made  up  a  large  army  which  Dr.  Siefert,  shrewdly 
catching  a  most  important  statement  of  Florus  and  care- 
fully paraphrasing  the  torn  fragments  of  Diodorus  and  Dion 
Cassius,  sets  aside  the  contradictory  statement  of  Cicero, 
thus  resuscitating  and  making  tangible  what  must  clearly 
have  been  two  terrible  battles  involving  the  acknowledged 
overthrow  of  two  Roman  praetors,  one  after  the  other. w 

s?  Diod.  XXXVI  frag.  vi.  Bind.  There  is  materital  extant  sufficient  for  an 
interesting  and  instructive  essay  on  the  ancient  tramps  of  Sicily  and  other  coun- 
tries. So  interesting  is  this  account  of  the  ancient  tramps  that  we  present  Pin- 
dorf's  paraphrase  of  Diodorus  in  full  on  the  tramp  question  :  "Ingens  vero  turn 
rerum  confusio,  et  malorum.  quod  dicitur.  Ilias  Siciliam  universam  occnparat. 
Non  enim  feervi  tantum.  sed  etiam  ex  liberis  egestate  afflicti  omne  rapinamm  et 
flagitiornrn  genus  committebant,  et  quicunque  offerrentur.  servi  aut  ingenui.  ne 
qnis  perditam  illorum  malitiam  enuntiaret.  omnes  impudenter  trucidabant.  Ideo 
quotquot  in  urbibus  se  continebant,  vix  ilia  quse  intra  pomeria  essent,  pro  snis 
habebant :  quae  vero  extra,  aliena  exlegique  violentiae  mancipata  jndicabant. 
Mnlta  Insuper  alia  a  multis  contra  normam  sequitati?  et  humanitatis  per  Siciliam 
audacter  peragebantur."  But  this  historian  does  not  stop  here.  The  tramps  who 
were  freedmen  who,  on  account  of  the  newly  imported  cheap  labor  of  the  slaves, 
were  suffering  from  want  of  means,  unable  longer  to  find  employment,  bad  grown 
desperate  to  the  last  degree,  and  tearfully  dangerous.  Fragment  xi.  continues  the 
description  of  those  terrible  days  and  desperate  men  a»  follows :  "Non  enim 
B«rvi  dumtaxat  rebelles  Siciliam  vaslabant,  sed  etiam  ingenui,  qnotquot  nee  prsB- 
dia  uec  agros  possidebant,  ad  latrocinia  et  rapinag  conversi,  catervatim  per  re- 
gionem  discursabant,  et,  paupertate  pimul  et  mala  mente  impnlsi,  armenta  et 
pecora  abigebant.  fruges  in  villis  conditas  diripiebant,  et  obvium  qnemqne  nullo 
discrimine,  seryum  an  ingennm,  obtruncabant.  ne  qnis  eeset  qui  eorum  fnrorem 
ac  facinora  indicaret.  Q;mmque  in  Sicilia  justitum  esset.  eo  quod  nnllus  praetor 
populi  Romani  jus  dicebat,  cuncti  liljerriman  licentiam  nacti  impune  debaccha- 
bantur :  proinde  nullus  npn  locus  inf  amis  erat  rapinis  ac  latrocinus  ac  vi  perdito- 
rum  hominum in  ditissimi  cujusque  fortunas  secure  invadentium.  At  ii,  qui  paullo 
ante  fama  atqne  opibus  clarissimi  inter  cives  suos  fuerant.  tune  fortnna  enbito 
commutata  non  modo  a  fugitivis  per  summam  contnmeliam  compilabant  nr,  sed 
piaetera  injurias  et  insolentiam  hominum  ingenuornm  perferre  cogebantur. 
Quocirca  univerai  vii  ilia,  quse  intra  pomcerium  erant,  pro  enis  habebant:  qnse- 
cunque  vero  extra  urbium  muros  erant  posita,  ea  aliena  et  prasdonum  violentiaa 
obnoxia  existimabant  Denique  per  singulas  urbes  atone  oppida  ingens  confu- 
sio  ac  perturbatio  juris  judiciorumque  erat.  Nam  perauelles,  quum  agrnin  om- 
nem  agminibue  suis  occuparent  infensi  dominis  suis  atqna  inexplebili  cupiditatc 
flagrantes.  itinera  omnia  intercludebant.  Qai  verp  in  urbibue^npererantadbQC 
aervi,  segri  ac  defectionem  animis  spirantes,  terrori  dominis  erant." 

88  Siefert.  idem,  S.  28  :  '•  Diese  besitzlosen  Kreien  iibten  oft  nach  areere  Ge- 
•waltthaten  ays  als  die  Sklaven.  Es  herschte  eine  masslose  Verwlrriing  nnd 
GeEetzlosigkeit  eine  Ka«-wi-  Uia?,  wie  Diodor  sagt."  bee  Diod.  XXXVI.  frag 
vi.  init. ;  also  our  note  37  above. 

»9  Cicero,  Vtrres,  II.  54,  gives  it  ns  follows  :  •'  Athenionem  <jni  nullum  oppi- 
dnmcepit."  Of  course:  for  he  bad  determined  widely  from  the  start,  not  to 
molest  the  towns  S:efert  however,  idtm,  S.  36  remarks  in  note  76  ••  Bei 


262  ATHENIO  JHH 

The  truth  as  to  the  lost  histories  of  this  bloody  war  is 
made  up  by  a  short  but  clear  statement  in  Floras'  Epitome 
of  Roman  history,  and  for  perfect  fairness  we  propose  to 
use  the  old  recensio  and  notes  of  Fischer  and  Duker. 
Florus,  being  an  aristocrat  of  an  exalted  gens  family,  either 
of  the  proud  Julian  or  of  the  Annsean  stock,  enjoying  the 
family  prestige  of  the  Csesars,  whose  instincts,  irue  to  the 
genius  of  the  Pagan  world  could  muster  no  sympathy  and 
hardly  a  contemptuous  pity  for  so  mean  and  degraded  a 
creature  as  a  slave,  would  surely  not  have  confessed,  in 
writing  his  epigrammatical  story  of  Athenion,  to  more 
than  the  truth.  His  sense  of  humiliation  as  he  confesses 
the  terrible  flagellations  which  his  country  received  dur- 
ing the  servile  wars,  comes  repeatedly  to  the  surface  in 
his  pages,  betraying  the  feelings  of  moral  nausea;  and  he 
confesses  no  more  humiliations  of  his  family  and  race  than 
truth  compels.  Yet  Florus  distinctly  tells  us  that  Athe- 
nion utterly  destroyed  two  Roman  praetors,  or  at  least 
their  armies  and  camps."  This  is  perfectly  consistent 
with  the  general  contour  of  the  story.  A  Roman  leader 
possibly  Lucullus,  who  afterwards  fought  Salvius,  with  a 
probable  force  of  Moors  under  some  commander  sent  out 
by  King  Bocchus,  had  arrived  in  time  to  save  Lilybseum 
from  the  assault  of  Athenion.  When  their  fleet  unex- 
pectedly appeared,  Athenion  retired  at  night  but  was  at- 
tacked and  somewhat  damaged  before  making  good  his 
escape.  The  rebel  commander  now  prepared  himself  for 
a  general  engagement  with  the  allied  armies  of  Lueullus 
and  Bocchus. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  until  after  the  battle  of  Triocala  that 
we  can  apply  the  statement  of  Florus  regarding  Athenion : 

Cicero  ist  der  Zweck  der  Erwiihnung  wohl  ins  Auge  zn  fassen."    See  Su  >rn. 
<o  Florus,  Epii.  Rerwn  Ramanarnm,  lib   III.  cap.  19,  g.  11.     "  Athenio  uastor 

sseviebat.    Ab  hoc,  quoquc  Praatorii  exercitus  cassi,  capta  Servitii  cas- 

tra,  capta  Luculli  "  (castra).  IB  note  h.  Fischer  explains  as  follows:  •'  Servilii 
Castra,  Capta  Luculii.  Allos  Annales  habuit  Florus  ;  nam  ex  uostris,  C.  Servilii 
et  C.  Licinii  Luculii  castra  non  modo  uon  capta  fuisse.  contra  vero  et  aLucullo 
victore  semel,  et  a  t-ervilio  tantum  non  represses faisee  servos  manifesium  est." 
This  is  as  we  surmised  Florus  had  at  his  command  at  the  time  he  wrote',  workg 
of  history  which  at  present,  do  not  exist  at  all.  as  here  suggested  by  Fischer.  By 
the  defeats  of  Athenion  are  only  meant  those  occurring  at  Triocala  and  the  pre- 
vious repulse  though  not  a  defeat  wh^ch  be  had  suffered  on  his  withdrawal  from 
Lilybseum.  We  now  turn  to  the  Duker  comment*  §.  11.  p.  919  Uelphine  clas- 
sics, and  this  :  "Ab  hoc  quoque  Diod9rue,  lib.  XXXVI.  tribuit  hsec  Salvio  cui- 
dam.  cui  Athenio,  velut  imperator  rigi,  audiens  iuerit."  True,  Diodorue  say* 
Salvius  wae  victorious  over  a  prattor  but  it  was  on  the  extreme  east  coast  i  nd 
the  praetor  was  neither  Servilius  nor  Lucuilus  but  the  propraetor,  p.  Llcini  j.< 
Nerva.  Nothing  is  safer  thau  to  follow  Siefert,  q.  v.  Seite  30. 


SALVIUS  AND  ATHEN1ON  MEET.         263 

"  This  man  putting  on  raiment  of  purple,  sporting  a  silver 
cane,  his  forehead  coronated  in  the  manner  of  kings,  not 
less  fanatical  than  the  fellow  Eunus  before  him,  inflamed 
his  army  and  melted  together  their  sympathies  so  that 
they  were  even  far  more  bitter ;  and  then,  as  if  to  vindi- 
cate this  predecessor's  actions,  raved  over  towns,  castles, 
villages,  tearing  them  to  pieces,  inciting  the  slaves  against 
their  masters  and  causing  them  to  turn  traitors  and  join 
his  hordes.  Thus  he  met  and  captured  the  camps  of  Ser- 
vilius  and  likewise  those  of  Lucullus."  These  are  the 
plain  words  of  Florus,  who  though  whimsically  proud,  was 
honest.  Accepting  them  we  proceed ;  for  he  framed  this 
statement  from  historical  sources  now  not  extant. 

We  now  return  to  the  movements  of  Salvius,  the  slave- 
king  of  Sicily,  whom  we  left  after  the  battle  before  Mor- 
gantion,  in  possession  of  the  whole  country,  having  beaten 
the  propraetor,  Licinius  Nerva,  and  consummated  a  great 
sacrificial  solemnity  to  the  honor  of  the  twins  of  Jupiter 
in  whose  asylum  they  had  from  the  first  been  protected. 
This  worthy  flute-player,  Messiah  and  prophet,  had  in  the 
meantime  not  been  idle.  The  army  of  picked  men  was 
now  augmented  to  a  force  of  30,000,  and  by  direction  of 
Salvius,  concentrated  into  one  solid  army-corps.  The 
union  of  these  men  was  effected  at  or  in  the  vicinity  of 
Leontini,  in  the  fruitful  valley  of  one  of  the  many  beau- 
tiful rivers  which  fall  into  the  Mediterranean  from  the 
mountains.  Here  on  the  occasion  of  another  ovation  in 
thanks  and  honor  to  the  Palikoi  or  twins,  for  propitiating 
the  victories,  the  slave-king  assumed  the  robes  of  royalty 
and  the  more  resounding  name  of  Tryphon;41  ordering 
that  henceforth  he  should  be  known  by  that  name.  The 
next  thing  was  to  select  a  situation  whereat  to  establisn 
himself.  With  this  intention  he  now  resumed  his  march 
back  to  the  spot  where  the  first  decisive  battle  had  been 
won. 

Salvius,  alias  Triphon,  appeared  at  the  stronghold  of 
Triocala  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Alaba  river  where 
were  combined  sweet  waters,  fruit,  wine,  oil  and  all  the 
profusion  of  vegetable  and  animal  plentitude.  Here  was 
improvised  for  him  a  palace.  Athenion,  the  rival  slave- 

«  Bttcb.  Auftt  S.  78,  Bays  his  real  name  was  Diodotua  Tryphon  and  cite* 
Weseeling. 


264 


AT  HEN  ION. 


was  summoned  to  appear,  and  brought  with,  him 
3,000  men,  leaving  7,000  or  more  in  the  field,  under  proper 
leaders.  Siefert  thinks  the  object  of  Tryphon  in  sending 
for  Athenion  was  to  put  him  in  chains  through  impulses 
of  jealousy.4*  At  any  rate,  Athenion  was  arrested  and  for 
this  treachery  Tryphon  afterwards  paid  with  bitterness ; 
for  retribution  was  at  hand.  Nevertheless,  the  fortifica- 
tions which  had  been  designed  went  on  to  completion. 
The  place  was  surrounded  by  a  wall  and  dykes  5,000  feet 
in  length  and  became  a  large  market  place.  Triphon  chose 
for  himself  a  council  and  lictors  in  the  manner  of  the 
Romans.  These  strode  about  on  guard  with  their  bun- 
dles of  whips  and  their  hatchets  in  hand,  attired  in  jewels 
and  purple.43  While  this  was  going  on  Athenion,  the  brav- 
est and  wisest  of  the  two  slave-kings,  lay  in  chains,  waiting 
for  his  opportunity.  It  came. 

The  year  B.  C.  103  witnessed  in  Rome  the  fitting  out 
of  the  proprietor  L.  Licinius  Lucullus  who  with  an  army 
of  Romans  and  Italians  14,000  strong  arrived  in  Sicily. 
On  landing  the  force  was  augmented  by  800  Bithynians, 
Thessalians  and  Acarnanians,  600  Lucanians  led  by  the 
bold  Qeptius  and  600  others  of  different  extraction.  This 
formed  a  total  of  16,000  men.  But  it  must  by  no  means 
be  reasoned  from  this  statement  that  there  was  no  con- 
siderable army  of  the  defeated  and  scattered  ranks  of 
Nerva  and  the  Moors,  to  be  coUected  by  Lucullus  where- 
with largely  to  augment  his  army  in  Sicily  itself.  Un- 
doubtedly the  combined  army  of  Lucullus  when  in  readi- 
ness for  the  great  battle  which  we  are  going  to  recount, 
numbered  25,000,  many  of  whom  were  experienced  veter- 
ans. With  this  large  army,  many  of  whom  were  Romans, 
the  governor  boldly  marched  across  to  within  a  mile  and 
a  half  from  Triocala  which  he  intended  to  besiege  and  take 
by  storm.  Like  Rupillius  before,  he  was  provided  with 
thongs  and  gibbet-makers,  to  crucify  the  slaves  who  should 
fall  into  his  hands 

«*  Siefert.  Sicllitch«  Sklavenkrugt,  S.  29  "Welche  Grunde  ihn  hierzu  be- 
wogen  batten.  1st  nicht  klar ;  sicher  jedoch,  dass  Triphon  in  ihm  eioen  heimlichen 
Nebenbuhler  sah  den  er  sobald  sich  eine  gunstige  Gelegenheit  bot,  verhaften 
mid,  in  Gewahrsam  bringen  leisg." 

*•  Diod.  idem,  vli.  4;  "EfeAefaro  6e  jcai  riav  </>popi7<r«i  Sia<(>tp6vr<av  a.vSp<ov  roiif 
iKavovs.  out  airoSeifas  <rvft/3oi/Aous  ej^pijTo  irvveSpois  avTOif  rrj^ti'vavrf  TrepnTop^vpov 
jrepte^a.V Aero  »cai  TrAarucrrjaoi'  cSv  ^Tiava  Kara  -ov<;  xpTj/iaTio>oi'?,  KO.L  paft&ov\ovf  f t^e 
fieri  iee\exfiav  Tovt  irpoTjyov/itVovs,  »eai  rdAAo  navTa  btra  ifotovffi  T€  Kal  e»ri«o<rfiow- 
<ri.v  cTrcTiqiivc  fia<ri\tia.ir. 


BATTLE   OF  SCIRTHJEA.  265 

But  Tryphon  whom  we  left  in  a  fit  of  narrow  jealousy 
putting  Athenion,  the  best  of  the  rebel  generals,  in  chains 
and  behind  bars,  hearing  through  scouts  of  the  near  ap- 
proach of  a  great  army  of  Romans  and  their  allies,  made 
haste  to  consult  this  rival  king  and  ascertain  his  views. 
Athenion  advised  him  not  to  risk  a  siege  but  to  confront 
the  Roman  in  the  open  field  and  offer  battle. 

Tryphon  who  well  knew  the  judgment  of  Athenion  as 
a  commander  and  the  great  influences  he  possessed  over 
his  troops,  of  whom  he  had  in  his  own  right  fully  10,000, 
acquiesced ;  and  the  combined  armies  of  the  two  kings, 
in  all  40,000  men,  marched  northward  to  a  place  called 
Scirthma  **  and  there  pitched  in  line  of  battle.  Opposite 
at  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half  lay  the  Roman  legions. 
The  offer  of  battle  seems  mutually  to  have  been  accepted; 
but  which  of  the  two  antagonists  gave  the  onset  cannot  be 
clearly  ascertained.  Here  stood  on  the  one  hand,  a 
great  army  of  40,000  desperate  slaves,  flushed  with  half  a 
dozen  victories,  burning  with  the  memory  of  their  previ- 
ous sufferings  and  anxious  for  revenge.  Their  command- 
ers had  a  sufficient  taste  of  the  luxuries  of  freedom  to 
make  them  desperate  and  they  were  not  wanting  in  the 
certain  knowledge  of  the  terrible  fate  which  awaited  de- 
feat. To  them  and  their  braves  alike,  this  murderous  con- 
flict meant  liberty  and  continued  luxury,  or  else  death  in 
the  battle-field  or  upon  the  ignominious  cross.  On  the 
side  of  the  Romans,  every  man  knew  that  defeat  by  a  base 
legion  of  runaway  slaves  was  of  itself  a  scandal  which  re- 
flected alike  upon  the  general  and  the  soldier.  '  The  proud 
senate  made  it  dangerous  for  him  who  could  not  return 
to  the  capital  with  the  blood  and,  as  it  were,  the  scalp  of 
the  last  slave  who  had  dared  to  defy  its  arrogant  and 
overbearing  prowess.  Besides  this,  there  yet  remain 
untold  the  incentives  for  the  praetors  to  enrich  themselves 
by  plunder — a  boon  which  defeat  would  deprive  them  of. 

With  these  contrasting  urgents,  involving  hopes  and 
plans  which  were  to  furnish  the  foundations  of  history  of 
progress  or  retrogression  for  the  human  race,  the  two 
great  armies  fell  into  mortal  grapple.  After  a  certain 
amount  of  sparring  and  skirmish  between  the  outskirts, 

«  Diod.  XXXVI.  frag.  viii.  2,  3,  4  and  5.  Paragraphs  3  and  4  contain  the 
•escriptiot  of  ihe  battle  as  we  give  it.  q.  v. 


266  ATHENION. 

the  main  body  of  each  army  closedin  with  an  unwavering, 
clash  of  arms  under  which  the  combatants  fell  in  thous- 
ands." Amid  the  battle,  while  the  terrible  plunges  of 
maddened  men  with  thrusts  and  din  were  at  their  height 
of  fury,  Athenion,  mounted  on  a  prancing  steed,  rushed, 
at  the  head  of  a  detachment  of  his  cavalry  200  strong,  with 
a  certain  frenzy  which  sometimes  chanacterizes  life  ener- 
gies when  wrought  to  a  tension  of  reckless  excitement.  He 
lunged  into  the  enemy's  center,  striking  down  everything 
before  him.  No  doubt  this  was  a  rash  action,  however 
magnificent  it  may  seem  to  the  critic  of  military  exploits  ; 
for  although  he  made  his  hated  foe  tremble  with  the  shock, 
he  received  three  blows  so  stunning,  though  not  fatal,  that 
his  fellow- slaves  on  seeing  him  fall,  feeling  that  in  him  as 
in  a  god,  resides  alone  the  genius  of  victory,  fell  into  a  panic. 
When  the  soldiers  of  Athenion  shrank  back  the  cry  of  vic- 
tory must  have  been  raised  by  the  Romans  ;  for  Diodorus 
tells  us  that  half  the  slaves,  in  number  20,000,  were  either 
killed  or  taken  prisoners,  but  that  the  remaining  20,000  fled 
back  to  their  defences  at  Triokala  under  command  of  Try- 
phon  who  survived.  Siefert's  suggestion  that  the  rebels 
lost  courage  scarcely  appears  well  founded.46  We  not  only 
find  the  slaves  again  in  possessing  of  their  fortress  of  Trio- 
cala  with  Trvphon,  but  we  are  told  that  the  rebels  kept  it; 
and  we  are  without  assurances  that  they  were  either  cap- 
tured or  driven  away.  Nor  was  the  gallant  Athenion  lost 
to  them;  for  after  the  catastrophe  which  may  have  closed 
with  the  sunset,  on  this  great  and  bloody  battle,  this  hero, 
taking  shelter  from  harm  under  cover  of  night,  arose  and 
BO  far  returned  to  reason  and  strength  that  he  crawled  safely 
back  to  the  fortress  of  Triocala  with  the  rest.  Thus,  con- 
Bidering  the  severe  punishment  suffered  by  the  Romans, 
the  fact  that  they  did  not  pursue,  that  it  was  nine  days  be- 
fore they  arrived  before  the  fortifications  of  Tryphon  and 
Athenion,  and  ventured,  battered  and  shattered  up  to  the 

«  Nach  einigem  Geplankel  kam  eg  zum  geordneten  Angriff,  dessen  Erfolg 
lange  heriiber  und  binuber  >?cb,wankte."  Diodorus,  XXXVI,  frag.  8  3,  Mys: 
"To  n(i>  ovv  irpiarov  tyivoTTO  trwex''?  aicpo/3oAi<j>ioi.  etc-"  Tbig  skirmisning  with 
light  armed  troops  introduced  the  general  battle. 

•it  Siefert,  Italiscli.  Sklavenkriege,  S.  29:  "Da  untornahm  Athenion  mit  zwei- 
hundert  aueerwiihlten  hYiteni  e  ucn  Angriff,  durch  den  er  Alles  vor  sich  nieder- 
warf.  UngWckHcherwclae  aber  wnrde  cr  mitten  in  diesem  Erfolpe  durch  drei 
Wunden  kanipfunlultig  gunuicht,  \voruuf  die  Sklavejummlilonfreniacht.flohen," 
Diod  XXXVI.  frag.  vm.  4,  who  'iiloims  us  that  AlhcnioB  when  struck  down 
feigned  death  until  night,  when  ho  ci-cupcc!. 


BATTLE    OF    TRIOCALA.  267 

gates  of  the  rebel  fortress,  in  fine,  that  they,  failed  altogether 
of  taking  the  place  and  experienced  thereafter  nothing  but 
defeat,  is  strong  circumstantial  evidence  that  Scirthaea  was 
a  drawn  battle  on  both  sides. 

Nine  days  after  the  Battle  of  Scirthsea  the  army  of  Lu- 
cullus  appeared  in  front  of  the  town  of  Triocala.  How 
many  men  his  army  now  mustered  or  ho\v  many  of  the 
former  officers  like  Cleptius  still  adorned  his  ranks,  is  not 
definitely  given.  But  they  had  within  the  nine  days  so  far 
recovered  from  the  severe  punishment  they  had  received, 
as  to  be  at  least  endowed  with  the  boldness  to  altogether 
underrate  the  strength  and  spirit  of  their  adversary.47 

Meanwhile  Athenion  was  rapidly  recovering  from  his  in- 
juries received  at  the  battle  of  Scirthsea  and  was,  as  we  are 
led  to  understand  by  the  evidence  left  us,  so  far  restored 
that  he  appeared  with  all  his  former  valor  and  vigor.  Dr. 
Siefert  who  talks  about  the  lost  courage  of  the  working 
men,48  naturally  enough  catching  the  idea  from  Florus,  says 
that  they  now  mustered  courage  to  attack  the  Romans.4* 
Our  opinion  is,  reasoning  from  appearances  which  confirm 
the  valiant  fighting  force,  such  as  must  appear  to  every 
candid,  unbiased  reasoner,  shows  the  rebels  to  have  crippled 
the  Romans  at  the  great  battle  of  Scirthaea  9  days  before; 
and  that  they  did  not  lose  courage,  but  doggedly  held  their 
own  throughout.  Certain  it  is  that  another  obstinate  battle 
was  fought  before  the  fortifications  of  Triocala.  The  Rom- 
ans made  the  first  attack  but  were  received  apparently 
in  open  field  by  the  rebels.  A  conflict  followed  in  which 
the  entire  strength  of  both  armies  was  brought  to  bear. 
The  loss  on  both  sides  was  very  serious.  But  in  this  second 
scene  of  blood  the  victory  was  with  the  workingmen.  Lu- 
cullus  was  completely  driven  from  the  field,  his  camps  taken 
by  storm  M  and  his  army  so  scattered  from  place  to  place 
that  he  seems  never  to  have  recovered,  but  fell  to  plunder- 
ing like  the  slaves  and  freedtnen  themselves,  appropriating 

«i  Diod.  frag,  viii.  5. 

«  We  can  no  longer  say  slaves.  A  large  proportion  of  the  rebel  army  wan 
now  composed  of  frwdmeo.  mechanics,  laborers,  etc. 

«  biefert,  Sicilische  Skl/ivenkriege,  S.  29.  "  Ala  Lucailus  endlich  9  Tage 
nach  der  Schlacht  zur  Belagerung  der  Veste  schritt,  war  der  ershutterte  Mulh 
echon  wieder  beiestigt." 

so  Florus,  lib.  III.  cap.  XIX.  "  Lucnllo  capta  castia— vicos,  oppida,  castella 
diripiens," referring  to  Athenion.  Siefert,  S.  29,  speaking  of  I.ucullus,  says; 
"  ja  sein  I  ager  soil  sogar  von  den  Sklaven  er&tiirmt  worden  sein  "  Sse  note  7ft 
•where  ''.^ef erl  refers  to  Cfc.  Verr.  II.  ti ;  ••  Atbtilonem  f<i\  nullum  opidnm 
'  -ro  is  d<r  Zweck  Las  Auge  za  faseen," 


268  ATHENION. 

the  funds  entrusted  to  him,  to  his  own  use  and  with  defeat, 
avarice  and  demoralization  was  rendered  hora  de  combat  al- 
together. 

What  had  in  the  mean  time  been  going  on  between  the 
two  rival  slave-kings,  Tryphon  and  Athenion,  no  one  can 
tell.  We  only  know  that  the  former,  after  the  battle  of  Tri- 
ocala  had  died51  and  that  Athenion  had  been  elected  king 
over  all  the  rebels,  including  slaves  and  freedrnen.  Per- 
haps a  dark  deed  of  revenge  or  of  jealousy  may  have  been 
committed ;  more  humanely  let  us  foster  the  conjecture  that 
Tryphon  had  lost  his  life  in  some  valorous  charge  which 
secured  the  victory  to  the  slaves,  in  the  desperate  battle  we 
have  just  recounted. 

The  year  B.  C.  102  had  thus  rolled  by  and  not  only  was 
another  large  praetorean  army  of  the  Romans  annihilated 
but  the  rebels  with  Athenion,  their  veteran  general  at  their 
head,  were  complete  masters  of  Sicily. 

Rome  under  this  extraordinary  condition  of  things,  sent 
C.  Servilius,  B.  C.  102,  with  another  praetorian  army  under 
orders  from  the  senate  to  leave  no  means  untried  whereby 
t<>  stamp  out  the  rebellion.  This  Roman  commander  and 
preetor  mu-t  have  landed  his  army  at  Massana  on  the  so- 
called  Etruscum  /return,  now  the  Straits  of  Messina;  and 
judging  from  appearances  the  first  battle  may  not  have  oc- 
curred at  a  long  distance  from  there.  It  is  not  certain  but  that 
tiio  Romans  inarched  in  a  southwesterly  direction  for  many 
miles  into  the  interior  before  the  two  armies  met.  We 
only  know  that  the  combatants  sought  and  found  each 
other  and  that  there  was  another  encounter;  of  course,  one 
of  those  tierce  and  internecine  struggles  in  which  great 
numbers  or'  brave  men  are  occasionally  mowed  down,  but 
whose  numbers,  memory  and  place  are,  for  shame,  pitched 
iuto  the  dark  grottoes  of  oblivion.  Florus  shuffles  the  fact 
aver  to  posterity  with  language  provokingly  crisp  and  in- 
dieative  of  mortification  aud  distaste;62  Cicero  denies;" 
Dion  Cassi us6*  is  in  tatters  at  the  Vatican;  Diodorus  lies 

61  Diod.  XXXVI.  1.  "  T»A.«VT>jcrai'TO?  Se  Tpvtfriuvos,  StaSoxos  rijs  apxij*  8  'A0»f. 
vtiav  Ka.diorTa.Tai,  «ai  TOVTO  fjiev  irdAetj  «JroAiop«ei,"  etc. 

s2  Flor  Epitom.  I'opuM  Romani.  III.  19.  "  Athenio— vices,  oppida,  castella 
diripiens  " 

AS  Cic.  Verrts,  IT.  54,  "Athenion  qui  nulluui  oppidum  Ci-pit."  This  how- 
ever, we  think  innocently  refers  to  the  fact  that  Athonion's  policy  was  from  the 
first,  not  to  take  the  fortified  towns:  since  Kunus  and  Cieon  in  taking  this  course 
ha  1  lo.^t  their  cause. 


BATTLE  OF  FL  OR  US.  2G9 

contorted  into  the  tell-tale  matt eringg  of  his  fragments;** 
Livy  leaves  only  the  paltry  exordium  of  his  ey atomies.1* 
But  enough  of  these  is  still  extant,  together  with  the  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  such  as  the  disgrace  by  the  Roman 
Senate,  of  the  defeated  praetors  and  their  exile  for  life,  and 
continued  ravages  of  the  war  for  years;  all  these  verified 
facts  prove  the  words  of  Florus,  to  the  effect  that  Servilius 
and  Athenion  met  in  some  undescrihed  and  mortal  fray ; 
that  the  proud  slave-king  won  a  complete  victory;  and  that 
labor  from  its  points  of  irascibility  and  vengeance  was  once 
more  vindicated.  Such  is  not  only  our  own  rendering  of 
the  renl  meaning  of  the  vngue  words  left  us  but  they  are 
as  conscientiously  read  by  others." 

After  this  important  and  probably  great  battle  which 
was  the  fifth  in  number  since  the  outbreak  of  the  war  and 
which  fr<>m  our  authority  we  may  call  the  battle  of  Florus, 
the  Roman  general,  either  disheartened  or  prone  to  enrich 
himself  like  his  predecessors,  with  plunder  and  malfeasanc-p, 
or  still  more  probably,  being  utterly  annihilated,  left  the 
strikers  with  Athenion  at  their  head,  complete  roasters  of 
the  field.  They  ravaged  and  laid  waste  the  country  on 
every  side,  destroying  castles,  towns  and  cities.  Athenion 
next  turned  bis  wrath  toward  Messana.  Reaching  it  by 
forced  marches,  he  stealthily  at  night  surprised  the  inhabit- 
ants of  that  city  as  they  were  engaged  in  its  outskirts  cele- 
brating the  sacrifices  to  their  gods,  and  cut  them  to  pieces, 
taking  quantities  of  plunder  which  he  made  off  with.  But 
he  steered  shy  of  the  city  itself,  keeping  apparently  in  mind 
the  danger  of  being  hemmed  in,  and  the  dreadful  results 
which,  in  the  previous  rebellion  under  Eunus,  had  caused 
the  great  catastrophe. 

Athenion  after  marching  through  the  northeastern  portions 
of  Sicily67  gathering  wealth  by  plunder,  struck  a  westerly 
tack  and  the  next  we  hear  from  him,  is  at  the  ancient  walled 

»*  Dion  Cassins,  excerpt,  101.  Peiresc ;     Diod.  XXXVI.  ii.  1  and  2. 

**  Livy,  £pitvme,  LXIX.  Jin.  "  M.  Aquillius  proconsul  excitatum  confecit." 

*•  Siefert,  Italische  Sklatfnkritge,  8.  30.  "  Athenion,  der  nach  dem  inzwischen 
erfolgten  Tode  des  Trrpbon,  Konig  der  Sklaven  geworden  war,  trat  ihm  (Servilios) 
mil  grosser  Kiihnheit  entgegen  und  aching  inn  aus  dem  Felde;  nachdem  auch 
das  Lager  des  Servilius einmal  genommen  war,  wagtediesersich  nicht  mehr  zum 
Eanipfe  hervor,  and  Athenian  konnte  angehindert  das  land  durchstreiien,  kaet- 
elle  nnd  kleinere  Sta'dte  einnehmen." 

47  Much  obscudty  enshrouds  both  the  history  and  topography  of  this  place. 
Livy,  lib.  XXVI.  'Jl,  speaks  of  the  place  as  being  obscure.  "  S'tcutae  defecboneir? 
earum  Hybla  et  Maceila  aunt  ignublioresqae  quse  lam  alj«e."  This  mention  •• 
fers  toB.  C. 


270  ATHENION. 

town  of  Mucella  supplied  with  a  castle  or  citadel.  It  is 
situated  southeastward  of  Segesta  and  not  more  than  40 
miles  to  the  eastward  of  Lilybseum.  Here  lie  established 
and  fortified  himself,  B.  C.  101,  the  third  year  of  the  war; 
supplying  his  army  with  the  products  of  the  fruitful  country 
around  him.68 

During  this  time  C.  Marius  and  M.  Aquillius  had  been 
elected  consuls  at  Rome,  and  it  was  resolved  to  send  a  full 
consular  army  to  Sicily  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the  war  at 
once.  Accordingly  Aquillius,  during  the  year  101,  arrived 
in  the  island  with  a  consular  army  consisting  of  a  large  force 
•of  veteran  Romans  and  other  soldiers.  The  terrible  hand- 
ling which  the  people  of  Sicily  who  had  remained  hostile 
to  Athenion,  had  received,  made  them  eager  to  grasp  this 
new  offer  of  succor ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  large 
numbers  of  the  defeated  fragments  of  the  armies  of  Lucullua 
and  Servilius  were  mustered  in,. swelling  the  consular  army 
to  a  host.  Aquillius  proved,  for  the  first  time,  a  match  for 
the  redoubtable  strikers. 

Whether  the  Romans  landed  at  Messana  or  at  the  port  of 
.iEgesta  in  the  vicinity  of  Macella  where  the  army  of  Athe- 
nion lay,  is  not  easy  to  determine.  The  distance  from  the 
Ostia  or  port  of  Rome  by  water,  direct  to  ^Egesta,  or  to 
Messana  is  by  fifty  miles  in  favor  of  a  landing  at  ^gesta ; 
and  to  have  gone  by  way  of  Messana  would  have  cost  the 
consul  a  march  of  150  miles  from  there  to  Macella,  on  the 
head  waters  of  the  Scamander,  over  a  country  already  laid 
waste  by  the  army  of  bis  foe.  We  cannot  but  assume  that 
these  two  desperate  generals  met  at,  or  near  Macella ;  for 
Diodorus  tells  us  that  Athenion,  true  to  his  old  resolution 
never  to  let  the  Romans  hem  him  into  a  walled,  town, 
marched  out  in  full  force  to  meet  him.59 

A  great  battle  was  fought.  When  the  two  chiefs  espied 
each  other,  they  rushed  together  in  mortal  duel.60  Athenion, 

68  Ptolemy  the  ancient  geographer  mentions  it  as  being  in  the  interior  of  the 
island.     See  Universal  Geography,  III.  4,  14.    Whereas  Polybius,  I.  24:  Kara.  T<  T>JI> 
tK  TT)S  Aiy«<7Ti)s  a.va.\taprf(Tiv   MaxeAAav  iroAtv  Ka.ro.  «paT09  ti\ov.     This    puts   the 

place  far  to  the  west  near  Athenion's  possible  birthplace;  Dion  Cassius,  Exc.  104: 
Xcopiov  ie  TI  Ma/ceAAac  eiiep/ces  rf(.\i<r<iii.(vo<;,  etc.  Siefert  imagines  this  to  refer 
to  the  town  in  the  neighborhood  of  Messana.  Polybius  is  however  right;  inpi-oof 
ol  which  we  refer  the  critic  to  Arrowsmith's  Orlns  Terrarum  Vtterum  Descriptio, 
Lend.  IM22. 

69  "  Athenion  stellte  sich  dem  Aquillius  in  offener  Feldschlacht  entgegen." 
Siefert,  S.  30.    Florus,  III.  19,  but  he  may  have  referred  to  the  successful  Bieyet 
by  Aquillius,  of  the  fugitives  after  their  defeat. 

s»  Dion  Cassius,  frag.  104. 


BATTLE    OF  MA  CELL  A.  271 

almost  exactly  like  Spartacus  at  his  last  and  great  battle  of 
Silnius,  struck  out  for  his  illustrious  antagonist,  determined 
with  his  own  hand,  to  wreak  vengeance  and  thus  cross  out 
accounts  with  Rome's  highest  and  proudest  source  of  power. 
The  men  were  equally  brave  and  gifted  in  the  sabre's  use. 
How  long  the  duel  lasted  is  not  told ;  but  we  are  distinctly 
informed  that  this  time  it  was  the  slave-king's  turn  to  re- 
ceive the  mortal  thrust.'1  Aquillius  was  a  tiger  in  combat 
and  though  he  received  heavy  blows  on  the  head  and  in  his 
breast  he  was  the  fortunate  of  the  two  combatants.'"  Athe- 
nion,  pierced  and  dying,  fell  bleeding  at  the  consul's  feet. 
Again,  as  at  the  battle  of  Scirthsea,  the  warriors  of  Athe- 
nion  lost  courage  at  the  fall  of  their  beloved  leader,  who 
this  time  was  finished  and  never  rose  to  their  rescue  as  be- 
fore. All  but  a  fragment  of  20,000  workingmen  were  killed 
or  taken  prisoners.  These  fled  to  the  mountains  close  at 
hand,  but  were  followed  by  Aquillius  with  so  much  energy 
that  in  two  years  time  they  were  nearly  exterminated. 

Hani  us  Aquillius  afterwards  wrote  at  Capua  an  inscrip- 
tion which  is  still  extant  and  quoted  in  the  archaeological 
collection  of  Orelli,  to  the  effect  that  when  he  was  praetor 
in  Sicily  he  had  busied  himself  hunting  down  runaway 
slaves  and  had  returned  to  their  masters  as  many  as  917  of 
them.'*  This  very  interesting  inscription  sheds  a  flame  of 
corroboratory  light  upon  that  immense  uprising  and  sub- 
stantiates the  history  of  the  affair,  as  we  have  extracted  it 
from  the  fragments.  It  also  adds  to  history  the  statement 
that  the  Sicilian  slaves  had  reinforcements  from  Italy.6* 
The  awful  scenes  of  crucifixion6*  as  in  the  case  of  the  re- 
si  Died.,  XXXVI.  x.  1.  which  corresponds  with  Siefert.  S.  30,  "Athenlon  stellte 
«ich  dem  Aquillius  in  offener  Feldschlachtemgegen,  fielaber  in  derselben  dnrch 
die  Hand  des  Consuls,  der  selbst  an  Kopf  und  Brust  verwundet  wurde." 

**  Diod.  XXXVI.  X.  1 .  Kai  »pb?  avrbv  Si  rov  /SourtAca  -riav  airo<rrariav  'A.6i)viuvck 
crvn3a\<uv,  qpuiicov  ayiava  <rvf€T7J<raTO.  Kai  TO.VTOV  /iex  a.vti\tv,  airof  S'  tit  IT)* 
Kt<t>a\'riv  Tpudei?  e0cpairev07). 

63  Orellius,  Inscriptionum  Latinaritm  Collectio,  No.  3,  308.  "  Eidem  prsstor  in 
Sicilia  fugivos  Italicorum  conqu»isivei  redideique  dominis  DCCCCXVH." 

44  Shortly  after  this  war  another  broke  out  in  Italy  which  lasted  some  time; 
tut  although  it  was  o:  so  much  importance  that  several  of  the  historians  wrote 
valuable  descriptions  of  it  in  their  books,  the  vandals  succeeded  in  destroying 
the  pages  and  we  have  only  some  fragments  left  in  an  almost  Ulegible  form.  Wo 
have  however,  in  chapter  viii.  succeeded  in  picking  out  many  of  the  prominent 
events  of  the  Italian  slave  and  freedmen  or  tramp  war  of  this  era,  q.  v. 

«  The  evidences  for  this  are  indeed  vague  except  by  inference.  Florug,  HL 
19,  says  Supplicium,"  which  with  him  and  Livy  always  implies  the  worst.  Bat 
that  almost  every  one  of  the  captured  rebels  was  crucified,  must,  by  implication 
be  accepted  even  almost  without  evidence,  other  than  the  well-known,  implaca- 
ble, inexorable  Roman  Law,  which  hung  such  malefactors  of  the  servile  race 
upon  the  ignominious  cross. 


272  ATHENION. 

bellion  30  years  before,  were  now  rehearsed  and  mauy  a 
captured  slave  perished  on  the  cross. 

But  there  still  remained  at  least  one  strong  man  named 
Satyros  who,  with  the  other  bold  lieutenants  of  Athenion,. 
fell  to  marauding  and  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  procon- 
sul prolonged  the  struggle66  for  two  years.  Satyros  and 
his  men  were  however,  in  B.  C.  99,  all  captured  and  taken 
to  Rome,  under  the  promise  solemnly  conferred  by  the 
Roman  general,  that  as  a  condition  of  capitulation  they 
should  be  exempt  from  punishment  and  treated  with  honor 
as  prisoners  of  war.  The  perfidious  wretch  had  no  sooner 
gotten  the  prisoners  in  safety  to  Rome,  than  he  offered  them 
to  the  aristocracy  as  the  basis  of  a  great  triumph  or  ovation 
which  he  claimed,  as  an  honor  to  the  hero  who  had  sup- 
pressed the  rebellion.  The  poor  creatures  were  dragged 
into  the  arena  on  a  given  day,  and  told  that  instead  of  lib- 
erty, their  horrible  doom  was  to  amuse  the  ladies  of  Rome 
and  others,  who  for  love  of  show  frequented  the  amphi- 
theatre to  view  the  bloody  contests  of  gladiators.  Not 
only  were  they  destined  to  this  but  they  must  fight  wild 
beasts  like  slaves.  The  great  auditorium  was  crowded  with 
spectators,  among  whom  beat  true  hearts  for  humanity  and 
fairness.  A  characteristic  of  the  great  gladiatorial  games 
always  had  been  and  still  was  at  that  time,  that  of  demo- 
cracy. All  classes,  rich,  poor,  the  eminent  and  the  lowly 
alike  had  seats;  and  as  there  was  at  that  moment  a  fierce 
war  of  tactics  raging  between  the  labor  organizations  and 
the  aristocracy  and  as  a  strong  partisanship  existed  against 
Aquillius  and  every  one  of  the  praetors  who  had  been  sent 
out  against  the  slaves  and  freedmen  fighting  for  liberty  in 
Sicily,  it  was  very  natural  that  such  a  party  would  numer- 
ously attend  the  great  ovation,  if  for  nothing  more  than  to 
pick  up  points  against  this  aristocrat  whom  they  hated. 

When  the  convicts  arrived  in  chains,  trembling  with 
disappointment  and  broken  hearts  and  like  the  wild  lions, 
tigers  and  hyenas  they  were  to  fight,  found  themselves 

e*  Livy,  LXIX.  Epit.  ad  Jin.  "M.  Aquillius  i>roconsul  in  Sicilia  bellum  civile 
excitatum  conteoit.  Harms  was  one  of  the  consuls  of  this  year,  and  Diodorus 
tells  us  that  Aquillius  was  the  other.  This  looks  doubtful.  Rome  was  at  that 
moment  involved  in  the  fierce  agrarian  agitations:  Cl.  id,  "  et  cum  legem  agra- 
riam  per  vim  tullisset,"  etc.  True,  Livy  may  re!er  to  his  proconsulship  as  being 
the  extension  of  his  service  in  Sic  ily  through  the  next  two  years,  (B.  C.  Vi9),  as 
the  war  did  not  close,  lor  2  years  alter  the  battle.  Again  this  may  rectiiy  tiie 
discrepancy  in  Aqutilius'  inscription.  See  note  61. 


LAST  BATTLE  IN  THE  AMPHITHEATRE.    273 

thrust  loose  and  suddenly  given  knives  and  other  weapons, 
they  all  mutually,  in  presence  of  the  great  throng  frenzied 
with  wine,  nervously  betting,  many  in  anticipation  of  behold- 
ing blood  spurting  from  their  naked  forms,  solemnly  agreed 
to  become  each  others'  mutual  exterminators. 

Satyroa  led  the  mutual  fratricide.  Seizing  their  weapons 
ihey  rushed  upon  each  other  with  all  the  fury  to  which  they 
had  for  5  years  been  wont.  The  audience  were  thrilled 
and  astonished.  The  heroic  fellows,  one  after  another, 
fell,  gashed  and  pierced  with  their  own  daggers;  while 
the  remaining  warriors,  girding  their  courage  by  the  ex- 
citement and  din,  drove  the  knife  deep  into  each  others' 
brave  hearts.  All  had  fallen  and  lay  gasping,  the  hot  blood 
draining  their  bodies  of  both  spirit  and  vitality.  Satyros, 
the  powerful  Greek,  was  still  upon  his  feet.  Without  fal- 
tering he  drove  his  weapon  deep  into  his  own  breast  and  thus 
triumphantly  expired. 

This  magnificent  stroke  of  courage  recoiled  badly  against 
the  perfidious  Aqnillius  who  had  treacherously  lied  them 
out  of  their  lives.  The  word  rang  out  that  the  glory  of 
these  brave  men's  fall  was  infinitely  grander  than  that  of 
the  wretch  whose  vanity  was  to  be  puffed  by  an  ovation.41 
A  reaction  then  and  there  set  in  against  the  fellow  and  one 
L.  Fufitis,  soon  afterwards  brought  suit  against  him  for  ex- 
tortion and  tn-' lfnasan.ee  which  was  so  energetically  pressed 
that  the  great  orator  Antonius  had  to  be  engaged  to  save 
his  life.  He  was  retained  for  the  trial  and  succeeded  only 
by  seizing  Aquillius,  and  tearing  open  r.is  clothing  during 
an  impassioned  gush  of  eloquence,  and  exhibiting  to  the  peo- 
ple tbe  wounds  which  he  had  actually  received  in  the  duel 
with  Athenion  at  the  battle  before  Macella.68  But  even  this 
did  not  save  the  fellow's  life;  for  where  there  lurks  an  enemy 
in  public  opinion  there  also  lurks  a  means.  Aquillius  who 
afterwards  fell  a  prisoner  to  Mithridates  was  taken  to  Per- 
gamus  and  in  a  horrible  manner  was  tied  back  down  upon 
a  stone  and  held  there  while  the  gold  melters  poured  a  la- 
dle full  of  melted  gold  down  his  throat.69 

67  Viele  meinten,  grosser  sei  der  Ruhm  der  Gefallenen-als  der  Ruhm  des 
nberlebenden  Siegers."  Sicilifche  Sklwn':ri?,ge,  ^.  ai. 

«8  Livy,  Epitome  to  book  LXM.  ••  mm.  il.  Aquillias  de  pecuniis  repetundia 
Liiuain  diceret,  iptsa  judices  rogare  noluit.  M.  Antonius.  qui  pro  eo  perorabat, 
tunicam  a  pectore  ejua  diccidit,  ut  honestas  cicatrices  ostenderet,  indubitantur 
absolutes  eat." 

as  Pliny,  A>at.  Hist.  XXXIII.  14.  "Nee  jam  Quiritium  aliqno.  sed  universe 
nomine  Romano  iniami,  rex  Mithridates  Aqnilio  due:  oipto.  an  rum  in  os  intudit  " 


274  ATHENION. 

Lucullus  and  Servilius,  the  praetors  whom  Athenion  had 
defeated  and  driven  from  Sicily,  as  we  have  related,  were 
also  both  accused  of  robbery  and  malfeasance  in  office  and 
banished  from  Rome  into  perpetual  exile.70 

10  It  is  hardly  to  be  wondered  at  that  early  commentators  misunderstand  the 
true  principles  involved  in  this  great  war,  or  that  they  misapply  the  true  facts 
in  the  case.  Both  Granier  and  O'  Brien  fail  to  comprehend  at  all  that  there  ex- 
isted a  socialistic  cult  of  great  but  secret  influence  which  had  a  powerful  effect 
upon  the  minds  of  the  men  involved  in  all  those  troubles.  Granier,  Histoirc  des 
Classes  Ouvrieres,  p.  496,  characterizes  them  as  "  bandits,"  as  follows:  "  Un  trait 
fort  ceracteristiijue,  et  qui  fut  cornmun  a  Eunus  et  a  Athenion,  c'est  qu'en  se  re- 
voltant  ils  u'eurent  ni  1'un  ni  1'autre  1'idee  d'abolir  1'esclavage  et  d'etabhr  1'egalite. 
A  peine  au  milieu  de  leurs  arinees,  ils  se  haterent  d'oublier  qu'ils  avaient  le  cou 
pele  par  la  chaine,  et  de  pouter  avec  delices  les  prerogatives  de  la  seigneurie, 
D'abord,  ce  qui  est  facile  a  croire,  les  chateaux,  les  villages,  les  villes,  furent  mis 
au  pillage."  So  Mr.  James  Bronterre  O'Brien,  an  honest  and  kind-hearted  writer 
who  devoted  his  life  to  his  fellow-men,  amid  persecutions,  likewise  misunder- 
stands the  ancients.  He  says  (Rise,  Progress  and  Phases  of  Human  Slavery, -p.  31), 
speaking  of  upholding  the  dignity  of  human  nature,  that  in  these  conflicts  "  there 
was  nothing  of  the  sort.  The  harsh  conduct  of  masters  and  the  violation  of 
workhouse  rules  were  the  motive  power  of  each  revolt."  The  fact  is  that  the 
•workhouses  he  mentions  were,  as  we  have  shown,  dungeons,  olten  underground 
and  intolerable  hells;  and  those  poor  people  were  chained  down  in  them,  and 
in  the  morning  marched  in  chains  to  the  fields.  The  systematized  workhouses 
•with  which  these  writars  become  confounded,  were  thos?  of  the  later  Augustan 
age.  To  get  into  the  ergastulwn  of  Sicily  or  Italy  before  the  emperors,  was  a  ser- 
ious thing,  and  we  know  of  no  rules  whatever  in  Sicily  restricting  the  master's 
will.  He  could  kiil  his  slave  or  keep  him  without  rule.  Mr.  O'Brien  and  M. 
Granier  de  Cassagnac  are  both  entirely  wrong  in  saying  that  there  was  neither 
premeditation  nor  purpose  in  these  great  revolts,  They  charge  against  Eunus 
and  Athenion  that  "  they  began  forthwith  to  ape  the  pomp  and  the  circumstance 
of  their  oppressors."  Every  action  of  Eunus  and  of  Athenion  on  the  contrary, 
was  inrontestably  pre-determined;  and  the  fire-spitting  prestigiation  of  Eunus 
and  Satyros,  as  well  as  the  purple  and  silver  staff  of  Athenion,  were  indispensa- 
ble to  inspire  their  uncouth,  superstitious  soldiers  with  feelings  of  awe  and  rev- 
erence, necessary  to  order  and  discipline.  In  fact  this  was  the  key  to  their  sue- 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SPARTACUS. 

THE  IRASCIBLE    PLAN  TESTED  ON   AN 
ENORMOUS  SCALE. 

RISE,  VICISSITUDES  and  Fall  of  a  Great  General — The  Strike  of 
the  Gladiators — Grievances  that  led  to  the  Trouble — Growth 
of  Slavery  through  Usurpation  of  the  Land  by  the  arrogant 
Optimates — What  is  known  of  Spartacus  before  being  Sold 
into  Slavery — Bolt  of  the  78  Gladiators  from  the  Ergastulum 
of  Lentulus  at  Capua — Escape  of  the  Runaways — How  they 
seized  Weapons — Vesuvius — First  Battle — Battle  of  the  Cliffs 
— Rout  ot  Clodius — Second  Battle — Destruction  of  a  Praeto- 
rian Army — Battle  of  the  Mineral  Baths — Great  Increase  of 
the  Rebel  Force — From  a  petty  Strike  it  assumes  the  Propor- 
tions of  Revolution — Fourth  Battle ;  Hilt  to  Hilt  with  Va- 
rinius — Destruction  of  the  Main  Army  of  the  Romans — Win- 
ter Quarters  of  Spartacus  at  Metapontem — Honor,  Discipline 
and  Temperance  of  the  Workingmen — Proofs  by  Pliny  and 
Plutarch — Coalition  with  the  Organized  Laborers  of  Italy — 
Uses  of  Gold  and  other  Ornaments  Forbidden-  -Wine  Ban- 
ished— Great  Numbers  Employed  in  the  Armories  of  Sparta- 
cus— Fifth  Battle — Battle  of  Mt.  Garganus — Ambuscade  of 
Arrius — Overthrow  and  Death  of  Crixus — Sixth  Battle — 
Spartacus  Destroys  the  Consular  Army  of  Poplicola — Sev- 
enth Battle — Great  Conflict  of  the  River  Po — Overthrow  of 
Cassius  and  Defeat  of  the  10,000  Romans — Spartacus,  now 
Master,  assumes  the  Offensive — Eighth  Battle — Lentulus  De- 
feated ;  Great  Army  nearly  annihilated — Mortification  and 
Terror  of  the  Romans — Ninth  Battle — Mutina — Proconsul 
Cassius  again  Routed  in  a  Disastrous  Conflict  with  the  wary 
Gladiator — Spartacus  now  obliged  to  contend  with  the  De- 
mon of  Insubordination — Crassus  elected  Consul — Reverses 
Begin — On  down  to  Rheginm — Sedition,  Treachery  Betrayal 
— Workingmen's  own  Jealousies,  Insubordination  and  Lack 


276  SPARTACUS. 

of  Diplomacy  cause  their  final  Ruin — Tenth  Battle — Scaling 
of  the  Six  Mile  Ramparts  by  Spartacns — Battle  of  Croton — 
Destruction  of  the  Seceders,  G-ranicus  and  Castus — Obstinate 
Fighting — Spartacus  arrives  and  checks  the  Carnage — Pe- 
telia,  the  Eleventh  Battle — Victory — Twelfth  Battle ;  Silarus 
— Last  and  most  Bloody  Encounter — Spartacus,  stabbing  his 
Horse,  Rushes  sword  drawn,  in  search  of  Crassus — Heaps 
of  the  slain — Dying  like  a  King — End  of  the  War — The  great 
Supplicium — Pompey  and  Crassus,  emulous  of  meagre  Hon- 
ors— Inhuman  Cruelties — Awful  Wreaking  of  Vengeance  on 
tbe  Cross — Dangling  Bodies  of  6.000  Crucified  Workingmen 
along  the  Appian  Way — Thousands  of  Others  crucified — Ut- 
ter Failure  of  the  Irascible  Plan  of  Deliverance. 

As  physical  science  informs  ns  of  convulsions  in  nature 
called  by  geologists,  the  Permian  age  which  brought  the 
paleozoic  era  to  an  end  and  left,  after  its  prodigious  up- 
heavals, the  calm  in  which  we  live,  so  historical  fragments 
and  palujographs  inform  us  of  great  social  cataclysms  im- 
mediately preceding  the  immense  calm  that  began  to  en- 
velop human  society  during  the  reign  of  Augustus,  rooted 
into  ic  by  the  visit  and  labors  of  Jesus.  The  di-sperate  so- 
cial upheaval  here  referred  to — the  last  in  the  line — was 
that  of  the  gladiators  under  Spartacus,  B.  C.  74-70. 

In  introducing  this  mighty  conflict  of  Spartacus — the 
greatest  and  last  of  all  the  ancient  struggles  coming  into 
our  categories  of  the  "  irascible "  against  the  "  concupis- 
cent," and  undertaken  by  labor,  in  its  plan  of  salvation 
from  the  horrors  of  slavery  and  suffering — we  find  it  nec- 
essary to  sketch  an  outline  of  the  condition  which  matters 
were  in  during  the  century  preceding  the  advent  of  Jesus, 
who  was  the  next  reformer  in  chronological  order. 

Of  all  the  methods  of  systematic  cruelty  practiced  upon 
the  ancient  lowly,  that  of  the  gladiatorial  games  excelled ; 
and  it  is  our  duty,  in  order  that  the  reader  may  see  the 
whole  truth  laid  bare,  which  actuated  this  rebellion,  to 
quote  a  few  specimen  descriptions  of  that  ferocious 
amusement,  from  the  authors  and  the  slabs.  Athenseus, 
quoting  the  lost  work  of  Nicolaus  Damascenus,  describes 
in  unmistakable  language,  the  horrible  custom  common 
at  that  time.  He  says  it  was  a  common  thing  for  rich 
men  to  invite  guests  to  dinner  and  after  the  wine  and 
other  intoxicating  stimulants  began  to  madden  them,  to 


HORRORS    OF  THE   AMPHITHEATRE.         277 

introduce  gladiators  into  some  ring  or  private  amphithe- 
atre. As  these  poor  creatures,  driven  by  the  foreman  to 
fight,  cut  each  others'  throats,  boisterous  applause  and 
laughter  at  the  scene  were  indulged  in.  Sometimes  beau- 
tiful women  were  thus  forced  to  attack  and  butcher 
each  other  in  the  same  manner  as  the  men.  Large 
sums  of  money  were  paid  for  these  innocent  victims,  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  toy  with  this  inhuman  passion 
in  the  male  and  female  guests,  for  beholding  atrocities  of 
this  ghastly  nature  while  they  wallowed  in  inebriate  and 
lascivious  beastliness.  Often  small  children  were  driven 
naked  into  the  arena,  given  knives,  and  forced,  for  the 
amusement  of  these  truculent  nobles,  to  struggle  in  the 
awful  qualms  of  danger  and  death  until  the  little  innocents, 
one  or  more,  fell  dying  in  their  bath  of  blood.1 

Gladiatorial  games,  as  we  have  shown  in  our  chapter, 
on  amusements,  were  the  real  origin  of  wakes ;  and  of  this 
we  possess  the  evidence  of  Valerius  Maximus.  Some  264 
years  before  Christ,  two  brothers  named  Marcus  and 
Decimus  Brutus,  on  the  death  of  their  father,  a  lord  of  a 
gens,  possessing  slaves,  held  in  his  honor  and  at  his  fun- 
eral, a  gladiatorial  combat.  There  being  no  amphitheatre 
at  that  early  date,  the  Forum  Boarium  was  used,  and  a 
permit  was  granted  by  the  city.  Appius  Claudius  and 
M.  Fulvius  were  the  consuls.'  One  need  not  wonder  that 
a  licence  was  granted  to  butcher  workingmen  by  a  mons- 
ter like  Appius  Claudius.  He  hated  them  and  was  strug- 

1  Schambach,  Dtr  Ilalisdit  ffclavenaufstand,  S.  7-8,  quotes  in  proof  of  this, 
Nlcolaus  DfUnaacen us,  indirectly  as  follows.  ''In  dem  gcwaltigen  Geschichts- 
werke  Ui-s>  Xicoluus  Damasceiius  wnrde  der  Sklavenkrie.  hi  110,  Buche  gehan- 
•delt,  aus  di-m  mis  bei  A  then,  IV,  pag.  153  F  (fragm.  84  bei  Miiller  fragm.  hist, 
graec.  111.  i/!'g.  417)  ein  Fragment  erhalten  iet,  welches  in  <!er  von  M,  gegebenen 
iateinischen  rcb-vrsetnuiis;,  die  lender  AiliiemainverstJindiichkeitwegen  stattdes 
grieclii-i  hen  Tex  tea  hier  gebe.  folgendermassr-n  lautet:  Nicolaus  Damascenes, 
Peripatetieue  st-ctae  philosophus,  libro  hisioriarnni  decimo  snpra  centesimum 
Romano*  sc.ilut  inter  coenandumgladiatorumparia  corumittere  solitos,  his  ver- 
bis  :  </  aiiiatonun  autem  speclacula  uon  soium  in  piiblicis  conventibus  et  amphi- 
theatre eiiunt  Homaai,  invecto  ab  Ktruscis  more,  sed  etiam  inter  epulas.    Itaque 
amicos  adcoenam  invitant  interdum.  tnm  ut  alia,  turn  ut  duo  triave  gladiatornm 
paria  diiiiiciintia  iis  exhibefint.    liritur  pogtqnam  vino  ac  dapibus  sese  ingurgita- 
nmt  introduci  jubent  gladiatores:  quorum  ubi  quis  jugulatur,  universi  conyivae 
plaulunt  eo  Hjiectaiulo  exhilarati.    Quidem  etiam  in  testamento  jnssit  mulieres 
forniD!-,is,  qnari  emerat,  ferro  inter  sa  Oimicare;  alias  item  pueros  impuberes, 
quos  in  dehciis  habuerat.     fed populaB earn  atrocitatem  detestatns  testa'inenturu 
eorum  irritum  esse  jussit.    l>as  Ganze  macht  den  Eindruck,  als  habe  es  zur  Mo- 
tivirung  des  Aufstaudes  gedient.'' 

2  Valerius  Maximus,  'De  SpartacuKs,  7;  "GladiatorinmmunnsprimumRomsB 
datum  est  in  foro  boario.  An   '^'aiidio,  M.  FulvioCosn.  dederunt  M.  &  D.  Brati. 
funebri  m^moria  patri>*  oin.   at  iionorando.    Athletarum  certamen  a  M.  9««uri 
•Sractum  est  muniiicentia. 


278  SP ART 'AC US. 

gling  to  suppress  them  and  their  unions  even  at  that  early- 
time.  Thyse,  who  arranged  the  Lugdunum  edition  of 
Valerius  Maximus,  adds  that  slaves  were  sacrificed  on  fu- 
neral occasions  of  such  men.3  The  origin  then  is  fetish 
and  belongs  to,  and  must,  like  many  other  inhuman  rites, 
and  practices,  be  charged  to  religion. 

As  an  instance  that  gladiators  were  the  game  of  priests 
and  priestcraft  not  only  at  Rome,  but  even  in  North 
America  among  the  less  ancient  Aztecs,  we  may  cite  Ban- 
croft, on  the  Nahuas.  He  says,  speaking  of  the  feast  of 
Xipe:  "The  next  day  another  batch  of  prisoners  called 
oavanti,  whose  top  hair  had  been  shaved,  were  brought 
out  for  sacrifice.  In  the  meantime  a  number  of  young 
men  also  named  tototecti,  began  a  gladiatorial  game,  a  bur- 
lesque on  the  real  combat  to  follow,  dressing  themselves 
in  the  skins  of  the  flayed  (human)  victims." 

The  story  of  these  victims  is  told  on  the  preceding  page 
as  follows:  "  Let  us  now  proceed  with  the  feast  of  Xipe. 
We  left  a  part  of  the  doomed  victims  on  their  way  to 
death.  Arrived  at  the  summit  of  the  temple  each  one  is' 
led  in  turn  to  the  alter  of  sacrifice,  seized  by  the  grim, 
merciless  priests,  and  thrown  upon  the  stone;  the  high- 
priest  draws  near,  the  knife  is  lifted,  there  is  one  great 
cry  of  agony,  a  shuffle  of  feet  as  the  assistants  are  swayed 
to  and  fro  by  the  death-struggles  of  their  victim,  then  all 
is  silent  save  the  mutterings  of  the  high-priest  as  high  in 
air  he  holds  the  smoking  heart,  while  from  far  down  be- 
neath comes  a  low  hum  of  admiration  from  the  thousands 
of  upturned  faces.4 

This  picture  almost  exactly  corresponds  with  the  glad- 
iatorial horrors  of  the  time  of  Spartacus  at  Rome,  Capua 

a  Thysii,  Recensiondva  Lugd.  Batavorum,  1651 ;  "Gladiatorum  munug.  Origo 
Gladiatorum  a  re  funebri:  ext-mplum  ab  Hetruscis,  At  fortaese  Hetrusci  ipsi  i 
Grsecis.  Undecvinque  exemplum,  causa  tarnen  and  prigo  1'unus  Nam  quonium 
olim  animus  def unctorum  humano  sanguine  propitiari  creditum  erat.  captivps 
vel  alto  ingenio  servos  mercati  in  exseqniis  immolabant.  Postea  placuit  impie- 
tatem  voluptate  adumbrare:  itaqtie  duos  paraverant,  armis  qnibus  tune  et  qual- 
iter  poterant  erudites,  mox  edicto  die  feriarum,  apud  tumulos  erogabant.  IICBC 
muneris  origo.  Atque  Gladiatores  illi  a  busti  cineribus  Bustuarii  dicti.  Lipgiiu 
Gladiatorium.  munus.  Vulgo,  gladiatorum,  quod  gladiatorium  I.ivio  aliisque  di- 
citur  ;  non  enim  gladiatorum  mumis  illud  erat,  sedejug  qni  gladiatores  pupnantea 
populo  exhibebat."  pp.  170-171. 

4  Bancroft,  Native  Races,  Vol.  II,  pp .  358-359.  These  horrors  were  extracted 
from  the  histories  of  Las  Casas,  Clavigero,  (iomorra  and  others.  The  Christiana 
were  furious  against  the  practice  and  broke  it  up,  for  which  they  have  been, 
maligned.  There  seems  indeed  no  doubt  that  in  breaking  it  up  they  committed- 
faults  ;  but  the  great  anti-slavery  movement  of  Las  Casas,  which  warred  against 
every  cruelty,  freed  Mexico  from  these  two  pests  lon 


WAKING    THE  DEAD    WITH  BLOOD.          279 

and  hundreds  of  provincial  towns  all  over  Italy.  Where 
history  fails  the  inscriptions  come  to  the  front  with  thei : 
irrepressible  language,  making  up  the  gaps.  These  ar> 
seemingly  innumerable.  A  peculiar  character  resemblin^ 
the  Greek  theta  expresses  the  violent  death  of  the  gladia 
tor  mentioned  on  the  slab.  Orelli's  catalogue  entitled  Re 
Scenica  teems  with  them.'  As  a  rule  they  may  be  consid 
ered  epitaphs;  for  after  the  dead  gladiator  had  beer 
dragged  off  the  sands  his  body  was  generally  given  up  t< 
his  friends,  some  of  whom  were  organized  in  the  numer 
ous  unions,  and  hence  the  occasional  laudatory  words  ot 
his  character,  his  affection  for  his  family,  his  skill  in  the 
use  of  weapons. 

But  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  these  poor  peo 
pie  had  a  mutual  or  reciprocatory  terror  of  these  scenes 
which  were  almost  sure  to  terminate  only  with  their  lives 

When  M.  Valerius  Lsevinus  died  B.  C.  200,  his  son.- 
forced  fifty  of  the  old  man's  slaves  to  begore  his  gravt 
with  their  blood.  Flaminius,  25  years  later,  on  the  occa 
fiion  of  his  father's  death,  caused  74  gladiators  who  hac 
been  hired  for  the  service,  to  balm  with  their  blood  hit 
ghost  about  to  be  deposited  under  the  sacred  hearth.  The 
emperor  Trajan  once  ordered  a  vast  gladiatorial  orgie 
lasting  123  days.  Not  less  than  10,000  gladiators  were 

«  Orellius,  Inscriptianum  Latinarium  Selectarum  Collectio,  Nos.  2.551.  "  Poet 
eling,  Syrns  lanista  ad  Aram  Forinarum ubi  negotiatorem  familiit 

SladiatoriEB  babes ;  2,552  is  a  Blab  on  wnich  are  lettered  certain  data  about  OIK 
ornelius  Frontin  ;  how  he  won  libertyat  the  great  games  and  liberty  for  bit 
children.  It  was  found  on  the  Appian  Way  and  catalogued  by  Mur.  No.  620,  4  m 
2,554 ;  2,555  is  one  of  which  considerable  mention  hag  been  made ;  "  Inscrip 
tiones  gladiatorire  in  Opere  musivo  Romas  asservato  apud  Marini,  Atti.  1,  p 
165."  It  is  two  inscriptions  In  one,  recording  the  death  by  the  steel  of  both 
"Astianax.  vicit.  Kalendio  death),  A  ptianas.  Kalendip  (death  or  killed).  Quibiu 
pugnantibns  Simmachus  ferrnm  Maternus  habilis  misit."  So  No.  2,556,  remark- 
able inscriptions  discovered  at  Pompeii,  showing  that  gladiators  fought  will 
wild  beasts  RomenelM^Viaffgio  a  Pompeii.  Home,  I,  p.  82.  Another  (No  2,545 
tells  in  the  words  of  an  epitaph,  more  than  a  chapter  of  history.  A  gladiator  he< 
fought  eight  times  in  these  games  oetore  he  fell,  and  so  skillfully  had  he  des 
patched  his  fellow  adversaries  whom  the  Betters  had  pitted  -against  him  that  b< 
received  floral  decorations  and  much  applause.  But  we  have  not  space  to  men 
tion  more  than  a  few  of  the  extremely  numerous  specimens  As  to  the  averap< 
years  which  gladiators  lived  we  find  these  data  carefully  figured  by  Schambat  > 
from  the  inscriptions  of  Orelli  as  follows :  "Ueber  sein  Alter  "  (meaning  the  ayi 
of  Spartacus)  •' ist  uns  zwar  von  den  Alten  nichts  berichtet;  trotzdem  macii 
die&er  Punct  noch  nicht  die  grozten  Schwieriijkeiten.  L)aa  man  zu  t  echtei ' 
vprwiegend  Lente  in  jungen  oder  mittleren  Lehensjahren  wahlte,  ist  natilrlich 
die  erhaltenen  Sepulcralinschriften  atif  gefallenen  Fechter  bestatigen  dies.  W' 
rinden  in  den  Inecr.  lat.  ed  Haaenb.  et  Orelli  folgende  Todesjahre  verzeichnei 
22  (nr.  2,572),  27  (nr.  2,592),  3»  (nr.  2.571),  46  (nr.  a,590).  und  echwerlld 
wird  das  zuletzt  angegebene  Lebensjahr  offers  Uberschritten  sein  Wir  werde- 
also  nicht  welt  fehigehen,  wenn  wir  uns  Spartacns  als  einen  Mann  zwischen 
30  and  40  vorstellen. '  lialiscker  Sklavenaufstarul,  S.  15-18. 


280  SP  ART  AC  US. 

obliged  to  fight  and  die  in  the  combat  for  the  worse  than 
beastly  gratification  of  that  degenerate  humanity. 

At  Capua,  Pompeii,  Preeneste,  Kavenna,  Alexandria  in 
upper  Etruria,  even  in  Gaul  and  among  the  Germans, 
these  games  of  gladiatorial  carnage  were  fashionable. 
Commodus  upheld  them,  Domitian  extended  them,  and 
finally,  and  to  their  shame  be  it  said,  even  the  Christians 
themselves  left  the  noble  principles  and  precepts  of  their 
master  and  for  the  paltry  baubles  of  adulation  and  of  im- 
perial favor,  fell  back  into  the  ghastly  heathenism  of  the 
amphitheatre.6  But  fortunately  for  future  civilization, 
this  did  not  occur  until  the  cult  of  the  so-called  early 
Christians  had  firmly  taken  root  among  workingmen,  the 
terrible  system's  victims ;  and  even  to  this  day  it  is  this 
element  that  alone  is  manfully  fighting  and  resisting  cruelty. 

De  Quincey,  in  his  characteristic  language,  tells  the 
story  of  Caligula  who  took  delight  in  feeding  the  wild  ani- 
mals of  the  amphitheatres  with  the  quivering  flesh  of  hu- 
man beings.  He  brings  his  story  in,  incidentally,  as  a& 
instance  as  follows: 

"  On  some  occasion  it  happened  that  a  dearth  prevailed, 
either  generally  of  cattle,  or  of  such  cattle  as  were  used 
for  feeding  the  wild  beasts  reserved  for  the  bloody  exhibi- 
tions of  the  amphitheatre.  Food  could  be  had  and  per- 
haps at  no  very  exorbitant  price,  but  on  terms  somewhat 
higher  than  the  ordinary  market  price.  A  slight  excuse 
served  with  Caligula  for  acts  the  most  monstrous.  In- 
stantly repairing  to  the  public  jails  and  causing  all  the 
prisoners  to  pass  in  review  before  him  custodiarum  seriern 
recognoscens,  he  pointed  to  two  bald-headed  men,  and  or- 
dered that  the  whole  file  of  the  intermediate  persons  should 
be  marched  off  to  the  dens  of  the  wild  beasts.  '  Tell  them 
off'  said  he,  'from  the  bald  man  to  the  bald  man.'  Yet 
these  were  prisoners  committed,  not  for  punishment,  but 
trial."7 

From  the  earliest  times  of  which  history  gives  any  record, 
brigandage  or  marauding  was  not  only  common  but  in 
many  countries  quite  popular.8  It  was  the  natural  outcome 

«  Gnhl  and  Koner,  Lift  of  the  Greek*  and  Romans,  pp.  554-566. 

T  De  Quincy,  Ancient  Histories  and  Antiquities.  \>p  88-9. 

sCsrey.  Principles  of  Social  Science,  Vol.  I.  p.  139.  Kent  is  original  brigand- 
age differentiated  by  refinement.  "  Opportunity  make*  the  robber,  und  the  most 
daring;  among  them  becomes  the  leader  of  the  band .  One  by  one,  the  people 


THE  FIRST  BRIGANDS.  281 

of  the  competitive  system,  forcing  the  patricians  or  gens 
families  of  high-born  rank,  to  co-operate  with  each  other, 
and  in  Greece,  to  form  interprotective  fratries,  in  liome, 
curies,9  which  may  be  regarded  as  first  evidences  of  that 
differentiation  that  made  nations  out  of  isolated  families.10 
Much  of  this  marauding  spirit  was  the  result  of  their 
abuse  practiced  against  slaves  whose  intelligent  sensibili- 
ties to  maltreatment  they  little  understood.  Although 
those  slaves  had  neither  social  or  political  liberty  they 
had  minds  and  strong  physical  vitality.11  These  they  of- 
ten used  in  self  defense.  It  was  not  uncommon  for  them 
to  take  control  of  their  own  lives,  escape  into  the  mount- 
ains whose  caverns  and  jungles  afforded  them  protection, 
and  organize  nightly  expeditions  against  those  whom  they 
considered. their  common  foe.  Some  of  them  became  bold 
and  chivalrous  bandits.  Only  on  extremely  rare  occasions 
does  their  history  appear  in  the  writings  of  the  chroni- 
clers of  their  times  probably  because  of  the  contempt  for 
them  as  being  mere  property,  which  was  entertained  by 
the  ruling  society,  whose  interests  the  historians  were  of- 
ten forced  to  serve. 

Historians  were  mostly  of  the  aristocratic  or  noble 
stock ;  because,  as  their  business  was  to  record  the  deeds 
of  heroes,  the  laboring  race  was '  considered  too  insignifi- 
cant to  do  that  work.  So  in  earlier  times  soldiers  were 
of  nobler  stock  than  workingmen,  for  the  same  reason 
Thus  we  find  in  almost  every  instance,  that  historians 
were  of  noble  blood,  while  sculptors,  architects,  poets  and 
teachers  were  descendents  from  the  slaves.12 

who  desire  to  live  by  their  own  labor  are  plundered;  and  thus  are  they  who  pre- 
fer the  work  of  plunder  enabled  to  pass  their  time  in  dissipation  The  leader 
d;\  ides  the  spoil,  ana  with  its  help  is  enabled  to  augment  the  number  of  bis  fol- 
lowers, and  thus  to  enlarge  the  sphere  or  his  depredations  With  the  gradual  in- 
crease of  the  little  community,  he  is  led,  however,  to  commote  with  them  for  a 
certain  share  of  their  produce,  which  he  calls  rent,  or  tax  or  taiile." 

9  For  an  interesting  discussion  of  the  gi.ntef-  or  gentries  which  we  designate 
the  genx  families,  see  .Morgan's  Anrient  Society,  l  hnpter  II,  pp.  6i-70. 

if'  Florus.  lib.  III.  cap.  20.  §1,  ,  Fisher j  denies  this,  unable  to  understand  the 
possibility  of  equality  by  merit.  "  Kam  etsi  ipsi  (meaning  slaves  as  compared 
with  gladiators)  per  fortunara  in  omnia  obnoxii ;  tamen  quasi  eecundum  horni- 
nnni  genue  sunt."  '  Note  C> 

11  Fnstel  de  Conlanees,  La.  Cite  Antique,  p.  118,  chap.  X.  "La  signification 
vraie  tiefamiiia  est  propriete :  elle  dt«igne  le  champ,  la  maison,  1'argent,  les  es- 
claves.  etc."  The  word  thus  developed  politically  and  covered  cities  and  nations. 

i-Granier,  Histoire  des  Classes  Ouvri'-.res,  chap.  XVI.  Also  chap.  XI,  pp.  243- 
244;  Lucian,  Somnium,  §.  6-9;  Consult  Drumann  s  remarks  A rbeiter  und  Com- 
Munistenin  GriecJienland  und  Rom.,  S.  29-30.  Miller,  Origin  of  Ranks,  chap.  VI, 
p.  243 ;  "  The  ancient  institution  by  which  every  one  who  is  able  to  bear  arms 


282  SPARTACUS. 

Among  the  most  remarkable  of  the  workingmen  of  an- 
cient days  whose  genius  revolted  into  rebellion  against 
the  servile  condition,  was  Spartacus.  Judging  from  piece- 
meal evidence,  scantily,  and  we  might  also  say,  stingily 
announced  by  the  historians  of  his  time,  the  deeds  of 
Spartacus,  for  valor,  for  success,  for  magnitude,  and  for 
the  terror  they  struck  into  the  hearts  of  the  proud  Kom- 
ans,  were  equal  if  not  superior  to  those  of  Hannibal.  The 
more  our  investigation  of  the  darkened  facts  reveals  the 
sagacity  and  purity  of  this  man,  the  more  profound  be- 
comes the  respect  and  the  more  intense  the  admiration 
for  him  by  all  true  lovers  of  gallantry  and  freedom.  In 
fact,  there  are  interests  astir  in  the  human  breast  which 
must  lead  to  a  more  searching  acquaintance  with  the 
fountains  at  the  social  penetralia  of  the  times,  that  bubbled 
forth  under  his  terrible  hand  and  shook  the  social  and  po- 
litical world  from  center  to  surface,  paling  the  senators 
and  tribunes  at  Rome. 

Spartacus  was,  in  ail  respects  a  workingman.  He  had 
no  ornamental  initials  attached  to  his  name,  such  as  be- 
token any  claim  to  privileged  ancestry.  It  was  simply 
Spartacus." 

is  required  to  appear  In  the  Held  at  his  own  charge.'1  This  of  itself  precludes 
the  lowly  who  have  no  such  economical  means,  from  being  soldiers,  and  show* 
the  entire  absence  in  the  early  ages,  of  the  now  prevailing  socialistic  mode  of 
levying  and  supporting  armies  by  the  state.  See  also  Guhl  and  Koner,  Life  of 
the  Oreekt  and  Romans :  '  •  The  contempt  against  trades  expressed  by  Cicero  is  fur- 
ther illustrated  by  the  fact  of  tradesmen  being  with  few  exceptions  debarred  from 
serving  in  the  legions; ''  Drumann,  Idem  Romixcher  AbschnM,  8.  106,  sq.  Dichter, 
confirms  the  statements  that  poets,  artists  and  other  workers  were  of  the  lowly 
clais. 

13  Flor.,111,  20, 1.  "Bellum  Spartaco  duce  concitatum  quo  nomine  appel- 
lem  nescio."  Mommsen,  History  of  Rome,  vol.  IV,  p.  102,  Harpers'  ed.,  tries, 
because  his  deeds  were  of  so  prodigious  a  magnitude,  to  make  him  a  member  of 
a  noble  family  of  the  Spartocids ;  but  the  name  he  trumps  np  to  serve  this  silly 
conceit  is  not  Spartacus  all :  it  was  Spardokos,  and  the  family  was  far  from  the 
home  of  our  hero  while  the  time  of  their  career  wag  equally  distant.  Mommsen's 
exact  words  translated  are :  "  Spartacus,  perhaps  a  scion  of  the  noble  family  of 
the  Spartocids  which  attained  even  to  royal  honors  in  its  Thracian  home  and  in 
Panticapseum,  had  served-among  the  Tbrocian  auxiliaries  in  the  Roman  army, 
had  deserted  and  gone  as  a  brigand  to  the  mountains,  and  had  been  there  recap- 
tured and  destined  for  the  gladiatorial  games."  Schambach  makes  this  vaguely 
conjectura',  and  succeeds  only  in  repeating  the  well-known  fact  that  in  Thrace 
the  name  Sportox,  Sportokos  and  Spardokas  was  about  as  common  as  our  name 
Smith  He  says,  (Italische  Sklavenamf stand,  S.  15) :  "  Dass  Spartacus  von  Geburt 
ein  Thraker  gewesen,  darin  stimmen  alle  Nachrichten  tiberein ;  Plutarch  Jiigt 
noch  hinzu,  er  habe  einem  Komadenstamme  angehort.  Kine  thrakische  Stailt 
Bleichen  Namens  wird  von  Stephanus  von  Byzanz,  s.  v.  erwiihnt :  aus  Thuc.  II, 
101  lernen  wir  einen  Glied  des  odrystschen  Konighanses  kennen.  das  den  Namen 
SirapSoicos  fiihrt.  Durch  Inschriften  und  Aliinzen  1st  uns  bezeiigt,  das  in  dem 
bosporanischen  Herrscherhause  der  name  Sn-apToxo?  ofters  yorkam.  Vgl.  Bockh 
corp.  inscr.  gr.  II,  91.  Moglich,  das  auch  unser  Spartacus  in  seiner  Heimat  den 
Bang  eines  Hanptlings  schon  bekleidet  hat. " 


CAUSES   LEADING    TO    THE  REVOLT.        283' 

Like  all  other  prominent  persons  without  the  prestige 
of  high  rank  to  build  from,  Spartaeus  rose  by  his  own 
genius.  He  arose  amongst  his  fellow  slaves  in  the  year 
74  before  Christ.  This  was  precisely  the  time  correspond- 
ing with  the  movement  of  the  Roman  Senate  to  suppress 
the  right  of  organization ; M  and  serves  as  additional  evi- 
dence that  the  suppression  of  organization  among  work- 
ing people  was  followed  by  a  great  struggle.  The  first  ap- 
pearance of  Spartacus  appears  to  have  been  sixteen  years 
before  the  law  was  passed  suppressing  the  ancient  right 
of  organization.15  It  seems  evident,  that  threats  against 
the  Jus  coeundi,  or  law  permitting  free  organization,  were, 
at  the  time  Spartacus  makes  his  appearance,  being  pushed, 
with  great  fury  by  the  nobility,  on  the  slim  pretext  that 
they  were  corrupting  the  politics  as  well  as  the  general 
morals  of  Rome.16  But  we  know  from  the  accounts  of 
the  Gracchi  that  a  furious  dissention  was  all  along,  rag- 
ing against  the  unions  and  in  favor  of  the  suppression  of 
the  law  engraved  upon  the  Twelve  Tables  which  permitted 
free  organization;  and  the  fierce  hatred  of  the  patrician 
minority  of  the  Roman  people,  who  were  assuming  and 
monopolizing  the  public  lands  contrary  to  the  Licinian 
law — a  dead  letter — had  by  no  means  died  out"  The 
fact  is,  that  although  this  great  social  feud  had  not 
cropped  out  in  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  Spartacus  so 
as  to  be  much  mentioned  in  any  record  of  the  time,  yet 

14  See  account  of  this  suppression  together  with  the  efforts  of  Clodius  and 
Cicero  for  and  against  it,  in  chapter  xiii.    Trade  Unions. 

15  Mommsen,  De.  CoUegius  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum,  p.  73.    De  Itgibus  contra, 
eollega  latis.    ''Usque  ad  finem  saaculi  septimi  liberum  jus  coeundi  mansit." 
The  year  Ab  Urbe  Condita  700.    Sfficulnm  septimum,  was  B.  C,  58. 

10  Moinmsen  says  that  Asconicus  refers  to  the  year  65  before  Christ  in  the 
following  words:  "Frequenter  turn  etiam  ccetus  1'actiosorum  hominum  sine 

publics  auctoritate  malo  publico  flebant propter  quod  postea  collegia 

plnribus  legibus  sublata  sunt,"  Of  course  these  "  societies  of  pretentious  men 
•without  authority  "  to  which  Asconius  refers,  are  the  trade  and  other  labor 
unions.  (Ascon.,  In  Cornel,  p.  75.) 

M  Centi-alization  of  wealth  upon  individuals  was  at  this  time  about  at  its 
highest  pitch.  Formerly  even  the  lords  sometimes  worked  on  these  farms. 
Pliny  can  hardly  believe  it,  though  he  enunierates  many,  Nat.  Hist.  XVTJI,  3. 
Plutarch,  Solon,  also  speaks  of  it.  But  working  with  one's  own  hands  in  Agri- 
culture had  disappeared  by  the  time  of  Spartacus  and  everything  was  now  dona 
by  slaves  and  froedmen  See  Wallace,  Number  of  Mankind,  p.  123,  referring  to 
Plutarch,  Solon.  Solon  finding  that  the  very  poorest  freedmen  who,  if  they  did 
not  <i'.  t  work,  were  seized  and  sold,  took  their  part  and  must  therefore  be  classed 
among  the  earliest  labor  reformers  on  record.  Not  only  Spartacus  but  great 
numbers  at  his  time  and  before  "were  seized  and  sold  into  slavery.  See  Encyclo- 
jjEl'.a  hritannioa,  Vol.  XXI,  p.  653.  9th  edition.  Agathocles  tyrant  of  Syracuse 
after  murdering  10,000  of  the  people  of  Segesta  had  sold  the  rest  into  slavery.  B. 
C.  307.  Sctian-btt'.'i,  S.  1-2,  /.a'til  der  Sklaven. 


•284  SPARTACUS. 

it  was  there,  ready  to  be  kindled  into  flame  at  any  mo- 
ment and  by  any  daring  adventurer. 

The  most  terrible  enemy  of  the  plebeians,  or,  as  we 
prefer  to  call  them,  the  working  classes,  was  Cicero,18 
whose  sense  of  justice  was  confined  to  his  own  interpre- 
tation of  laws  favoring  the  privileged  class,  or  yens  fami- 
lies. Strange  to  say,  in  the  year  70  B,  C.,  he  was  in  the 
act  of  prosecuting  Verres,  the  prsetor  of  Sicily,  for  acts  of 
rapacity  which  it  was  feared  would  again  cause  the  ser- 
vile war  to  flame  forth  in  that  island ;  a  subject  concern- 
ing which  we  shall  soon  have  more  to  say ;  but  a  short 
time  afterwards  we  find  him  violently  lampooning  the 
workingman  at  Rome  in  his  defense  of  the  laws  restrict- 
ing their  organization.  We  also  find  him  slurring  Clodius, 
whose  powerful  eloquence  succeeded  in  vindicating  them 
for  a  time  and  in  bringing  odiutn  upon  his  name.  Study- 
ing the  causes  of  the  servile  war  of  this  period  from  a 
consultation  of  the  changes  which  occurred  in  the  Roman 
law,  and  bearing,  at  the  same  time,  a  close  scrutiny  of  the 
chronicled  events  such  as  are  sparingly  afforded  by  his- 
torians, together  with  such  as  we  find  engraved  on  the 
tablets  of  the  unions  before  and  after  the  promulgation 
of  the  restrictions  to  labor  organizations,  we  cannot  but 
see  that  the  wide-spread  disaffection  called  the  servile  war 
of  Spartacus 19  must  have  been  largely  caused  by  the  law 
prohibiting  and  threatening  to  prohibit  .free  right  of  com- 
bination. 

Though  little  is  known  of  the  birth  of  Spartacus,  the 
legend  goes  that  his  father  whom  he  much  loved  was  also 
a  captive  slave;  and  that  the  young  son  of  15  years,  as  he 
held  the  head  of  his  dying  parent,  chained  and  nailed  to 
the  trunk  of  a  tree,  is  conjured  by  the  old  man  to  avenge  his 
death  M  and  that,  like  Hannibal,  he  then  and  there  vowed 
vengeance  upon  his  powerful  enemies,21  and  in  consequence 
his  terrible  spring  at  Rome  in  riper  years  was  in  obedi- 
ence to  promise.  All  this  must,  for  want  of  proof,  be  re- 
is  Afl  evidence  that  Cicero  hated  the  plobeiana  we  have  in  many  places,  quoted 
bis  own  words  in  our  copious  annotations,  q.  v.  in  chapters  on  Trade  Unions. 

in  Florus,  HI,  20,  init,  ennobles  it  'with  the  appellation,  "Bellain  Sparta- 
•Olum." 

z°  Vela,  the  Italian  sculptor  executed  a  group  of  statues  portraying  this  scene 
which  was  set  up  in  London  in  1862.  Dictionnaire  Universel,  Art.  Spartacus. 

21  "Serment  de  Spartacus;  groupe  de  marbre  de  M.  Barrias,  Solon  de  1872. 
Spartacus  aine  eiichaine  et  clon6  a  un  trono  d'arhre  vient  d'expir«r  etc,"  See 
•Dictio-vnairt  Universel,  Art  Spartacus. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  GREAT  GLADIATOR.    285- 

garded  as  romance.     But  we  come  to  the  recital  of  more 
solid  facts. 

•       ,1  -r>     /-i     m  e      •         i    e 

Spartacus,  in  the  year  B.  C.  74,  was  a  man  of  giant  frame, 
handsome,  of  white  complexion  with  an  abundance  of 
dark  ringlets,  and  possessed  of  an  affable  bearing,  win- 
ning and  yet  severe  in  its  magnetic  aptitude  for  com- 
mand. He  was  young  for  one  of  his  experience,  knowl- 
edge and  judgment  of  the  world.  He  had  been  a  shep- 
herd on  his  native  plains  in  Thracian  Greece."  "While 
engaged  at  this  bucolic  calling  he  made  companionship 
with  other  young  men  unfitted  for  this  dreamy  life.  They 
attached  themselves  to  habits  of  the  numerous  mountain- 
eers who  sallied  from  their  cabins  at  convenient  times  and 
attacked  Roman  soldiers  who  often  marched  through  the 
country  during  those  days  of  war  and  invasion.  At  any 
rate,  we  first  tind  him  at  Capua,  a  city  situated  about 
twenty  miles  north  from  Naples.  "We  also  have  evidence  w 
that  he  had  been  captured  in  Thrace,  taken  forcibly  to 
Capua  as  a  prisoner  and  on  account  of  his  powerful  phy- 
sique and  peculiarly  fine  appearance,  was  trained  in  a 
school  of  gladiators  by  the  master  teacher  of  athletic 
games,  Lentulus  Batiatus.  Capua  was  then  a  consider- 
able city  of  Italy.  It  was  celebrated  for  its  extravagance 
and  luxury.  In  the  heart  of  an  exceedingly  fertile  re- 
gion, its  indolent  patrician  inhabitants  had  usurped  the 
agcr  public  UP  which  during  the  happier  days  of  the  gol- 
den age  of  Rome  had  been  farmed  by  labor  unions  or 
colleges  under  the  celebrated  provisions  of  Numa  Pom- 
pilius  and  Solon.-4  The  ayer  publicus  was  the  public  land. 
It  was  property  in  common  which  belonged  to  the  State.** 
The  Licinian  Law,  or  the  memory  of  the  defunct  statute 
having  this  title,  was  at  that  moment  a  bone  of  conten- 
tion. Spurius  Cassiuslong  before  the  Twelve  Tables  were 
engraved  or  the  decemvirate  created,  had  made  a  strong- 
effort  in  behalf  of  the  unions,  or  order  of  the  united  la- 


"  Spa 

suit  also  Florus.  Ill,  20;  Appian,  I.  116-121.  Orosius,  Historiarum  Adversus  Pag- 
anos,  VII. 

is  Plutarch,  Cronus,  8. 

-*  Digest,  lib.  xlvii,  tit.  22,  leg.  4,  ami  the  law  of  the  Twelve  Tables  there 
spok.n  of  by  Plut.,  Suma,  xviii. 

25  See  Licinian  law  and  the  Agrarian  conflicts,  Plut.,  Titut  Gracchui.  AJUo 
the  Encyclopaedias,  Art.  Agrarian  Law. 


-286  SPARTACUS. 

borers,  one  of  the  great  branches  of  that  labor  organiza- 
tion indirectly  provided  for  by  Numa.  The  co-operators 
or  amalgamated  societies  for  victualing  Ihe  inhabitants  of 
Home  were  necessary  to  the  life  of  the  state.26  Their 
business  had  been  to  attend  to  the  farming  of  the  ager 
publicus  or  lands  belonging  to  the  state.  It  is  an  unhappy 
characteristic  of  individual  wealth,  however,  to  love  the 
boasted  social  gulf  separating  them  from  labor;  and  as 
certain  individuals  grew  enormously  rich  and  politically 
powerful  they  committed  encroachments  upon  the  ancient 
system  of  supplying  the  people  with  provisions  as  it  were, 
by  communistic  means.  The  trade  unionists  or  socialists 
were  gradually  encroached  upon  by  these  wealthy  gentes, 
or  patricians  who  pushed  slaves  out  upon  the  ager  pub- 
licus. driving  off  the  unionists  and  their  system  by  slow 
degrees,  substituting  for  them  abject  and  degraded  toil, 
and  maddening  the  collegia  or  unions  who  took  advantage 
of  their  organizations  to  discuss  this  grievance,  a  political 
as  well  as  a  social  one."  There  were  at  Rome  good  men 
as  well  as  bad  among  the  rulers  in  power.  At  all  times 
these  are  to  be  seen  in  Roman  history.  Spurius  Cassius, 
a  consul,  got  a  law  passed  restoring  these  lands,  which 
had  been  arbitrarily  taken  possession  of,  because  he  found 
that  the  wrong  had  already  begun,  in  his  early  time  to 
produce  poverty.  But  the  patricians  arrogantly  ignored 
the  measure,  or  rather  fought  it  down.  Great  estates 
manned  by  slaves  appeared  on  the  public  domain  to  which 
the  optimates  had  no  right  whatever,  except  that  of  su- 
perior force,  prestige  and  tact.  Thus,  on  the  one  hand, 
in  many  places,  especially  in  the  particular  territory  south 

*•  See  "  Victualers,"  in  chap,  xvi,  pp.  339-400.  Also  consult  Granier,  Histoirt 
da  Classa  Ouvr&res,  chap,  xii,  explaining  how  the  trade  unions  were  employed 
by  the  Roman  government. 

«  In  addition  to  oar  own  copious  figures  on  the  importation  of  slave — in 
other  words  cheap  labor,  we  quote  Schambach  as  follows:  ''  Von  diesen  ruck- 
weisen  TJeberschwemmung  mit  frischen  Menschenkraften  abgesehen,  wurde  der 
regelmaszige  Bedarf  auf  dem  Wege  des  Uandels  gedeckt.  Fort  und  fort 
wurden  aus  dem  Norden,  aus  den  Gegenden  am  schwarzen  Meere,  aus  Syrien 
tmd  Libyen  eine  Menge  von  Sklaven  durch  Handler  nach  Italien  importirt. 
Lange  Zeit  war  Delos  der  Haupsitz  dieses  Handels:  zur  Zeit  der  hochsten 
BlUte  (um  100  v.  Chr.)  uollen  an  einem  Tage  oft  10,000  Sklaven  hier  abgesetz  sein. 
Selbstverstandlich  war  auch  Rom  ein  wichtiger  Platz  fiir  den  Sklavenhandel. 
Auf  welche  Weise  der  Handler  in  dem  besitz  seiner  Waare  gekommen.  darnach 
fragte  man  nicht ;  Menschenraub  zu  Wasser  und  zu  Lande,  sclbst  Menscheujag- 
deii,  wie  sie  hentzutage  noch  In  Afrika  an  der  Tagesordnung  sind,  wnren  niclits 
t7ngewohnlicb.es,  wenn  auch  die  grosze  Masse  gebrachten,  als  ein  ppler  heimi- 
•cher  Fehden,  durch  Tausrh  oder  Kau.  in  dem  Bcsitz  ihrer  derzeitigen  Herren 
'gekommen  sein  muchten."  Der  llallsche  Sklarcnaujtiand,  S.  2. 


IMPORTED  CHEAP  LABOR  THE  CAUSE.       287 

and  east  of  Rome,  of  which  Capua  was  a  fruitful  center, 
the  ancient  collegia  or  labor  organizations  were  gradually 
driven  together  into  cities,  and  the  slaves  of  conquest 
and  slaves  of  birth  from  the  gens  who  were  everywhere 
numerous,  were  forced 28  to  delve  for  rapacious  masters, 
without  remuneration,  under  the  tyrannical  lash  of  foreign 
mercenary  drivers.29 

The  same  state  of  things  continued  until  the  time  of 
Appius  Claudius,  one  of  the  Koman  decemvirs,  whose 
business  as  a  decemvir  was,  per  se  to  carry  out  the  law  of 
Cassius,  restoring  the  public  domain  to  the  people.  What 
was  this  decemvirate  created  for  ?  History  is  exceedingly 
explicit  and  unanimous  in  stating  the  functions  of  the  de- 
<jcmvirate — decemviri  iegibus  scribendis.39  They  were  cre- 
ated for  the  express  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  law  of 
the  Twelve  Tables,  one  special  provision  in  which  was  to 
encourage  the  organization  of  the  free  labor  element ; 
which  organization,  as  a  business  compact,  was  to  till  the 
agcr  publicus  on  shares  and  furnish  the  people  food  and 
other  necessities  therefrom. 

Appius  Claudius  must,  especially  from  a  standpoint  of 
sociology,  ever  be  regarded  as  one  of  those  black  and 
morally  nauseating  buzzards  at  which  an  occasional 
glimpse  is  had  by  the  disgusted  sensibilities  of  the  vir- 
tuous as  they  climb  down  the  ladder  of  time.  He  was, 
in  a  most  strangely  surreptitious  manner,  the  arch  enemy 
of  the  very  measure  he  has  elected  to  defend !  In  war, 
his  best  soldiers  the  mercenarii,  forsook  him.  In  morals, 
he  was  a  cruel  and  villainous  libertine  and  his  rape  of 
Virginia,31  under  pretense  that  she  was  one  of  the  "  mis- 
erable proletaries  "  who  bore  the  taint  of  labor  and  that 
therefore,  the  laws  of  chivalry  and  of  common  decency 
did  not  reach  her  case,  together  with  the  terrible  death 
of  the  poor  girl  at  her  father's  hand,  ended  in  bringing 
the  try  ant  to  prison  and  a  violent  end.82 

28  Consult  Strabo,  VI. p.  250,  see  also  Meiers'  Dionysische  Kunstter:  "  Der  ton 
den  Tarentiuern  gegen  die  Romer  zu  Hult'e  gerufene  Pyrrhus  hatte.  um  den  ver- 
•weichlichten  Burgern  anzuheli'en.  nichts  Eiligeres  zu  thun  als  die  Syssiten  in 
zukunft  zu  verbieten,  (page  12).  Also  Scham bach's  Italischer  Sklavenauf stand,  VI, 
S.  17. 

2«  For  accounts  of  the  enormous  slave  populations  of  different  eras,  see 
Schambach,  Italisr.her  Sklavenauf stand,  I,  1-4.  Biicher,  Aufstande  der  Unfreien  Ar- 
beiter,  S.  26,  3*>,  (55,  84.  Drumann,  Arbeiter  und  Communisten,  S.  24, 156.  64  and 
our  own  chapters. 

so  Livy,  III.  33.  si  Livy ,  in,  55,  56,  57.    Diofiys.  of  Harlicarn. 

»s  Livy.  Libri  Hiitorterum,  HI.  57.    •'  Et  illi  carcerem  aedincatum  esse,  quod 


288  SPAKTACUS* 

The  inimical  inroads-  upon  the  ager  publicus,  and  the 
consequent  ruin  of  the  common  people  instigated  by  Ap- 
pius  Claudius  and  his  band  of  patrician  adherents  created 
so  great  a  defection  among  the  plebeians  that  in  13.  C. 
360,  the  famous  Licinian  law,  de  modo  agri  was  called  into 
being  by  Stolo  a  low-born  himself.  It  was,  in  reality,  a 
regulation  instituting  a  system  of  small  holdings;  for  un- 
der it  one  of  the  consuls  was  to  be  a  man  of  the  people 
and  no  one  rich  or  poor  could  be  allowed  more  than  500 
acres  of  the  public  land.  This  celebrated  law,  of  Licinius 
Stolo,  a  plebeian,  which  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the 
primitive  causes  of  those  great  social  wars  and  agrarian 
contentions  such  as  brought  Home  to  her  phenomenal  de- 
cline, was  also  doomed  to  defeat.  By  the  time  of  the  re- 
volt of  Spartacus  we  find,  on  every  side  of  the  metropolis, 
the  grandees  occupying  the  land,  living  in  luxury,  while 
the  land  which  for  many  centuries  had  been  cultivated 
by  the  comparatively  free  laborers  or  freedmen,  was  now 
laboriously  worked  by  degraded  slaves,  ready  to  revolt 
and  watching  their  opportunities  for  revenge. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  resume  the  thread  of  our  nar- 
rative. Young  Spartacus,  a  workingman,  in  every  sense,55 
by  birth  from  an  earth-born  family,  by  accident  of  capture 
and  by  sale  as  a  slave,  was  assigned  to  the  exciting  and 
dangerous  labors  of  a  gladiator.  His  task  was  the  revolt- 
ing one  of  amusing  the  non-laboring  grandees,  their  la- 
dies and  fashionable  pets,  the  indolent  and  proud,  who 
languidly  sought  in  the  game,  the  wager,  the  bagnio,  the. 
amphitheatre  and  its  bloody  combats,  a  gratification  of 
their  passion  for  these  scenes  of  ancient  life.  The  ruins  of 
the  great  marble-faced  amphitheatre  of  Capua  where  Spar- 
tacus is  supposed  to  have  killed  many  of  his  own  comrades 
in  misfortune,  are  still  an  object  of  attraction  to  travelers.1* 
Capua  was  at  that  time  a  large  city.  It  lay  on  the  Vol- 
turnus,  a  beautiful  river  of  Campania  flowing  from  the 
Appenines  westward  into  the  Mediterranean 


lomicilium  plebis  Romanae  vocare  sit  solitus.  Proinde,  nt  ille  iterum  ac  saepius 
^rovocet,  sic  s«  iterum  ac  saepius  iudicem  illi  ferre,  ui  vindicias  ab  libertate  in 
servitutem  dederit:  si  ad  iudicem  non  eat,  pro  damnatu  in  vincula  duel  iubere. 
Ut  Kaud  quoquam  improbante.  sic  magnomotu  animornm,  quum  tanti  viri  sup- 
pliciu  suamet  plebi  iam  nimia  libertas  videretur,  in  careerern  est  coniectus," 

Schambach's  effort  to  prove  him   to  have  had  a  recognized  family,  is 
without  foundation  in  fact. 

3<  See  Rinaldo,  Memoria  It-torielie  Vflla-Cilta  di  Capua. 


289 


through  mountain  gorges,  valleys  and  plains,  watering 
some  of  the  most  fruitful  lands  of  that  magnificent  penin- 
sula. These  delightful  and  fruitful  fields  had  been  the 
ager  publicus  since  363  years  before  Christ;  but  like  many 
of  the  vast  estates  of  the  republic,  had  by  the  time  of  our 
hero,  become  private  manorial  grounds  tilled  by  slaves. 

Spartacus  had  previously  had  some  military  experience 
of  a  low  order; 35  for  it  is  certain  that  he  was  a  prisoner, 
having  deserted  the  alliance  in  which  he  was  treated  as  a 
servant — a  humiliation  his  spirit  was  too  proud  to  bear — 
and  being  recaptured,  was  sold  into  slavery. 

There  was  at  Capua,  in  addition  to  the  amphitheatre, 
a  school,  probably  of  importance  enough  to  secure  for  its 
enterprising  proprietor,  Lentulus  Batiatus,  a  considera- 
ble income.  Plutarch  expressly  states  that  most  of  the 
gladiators  were  Thracian  Gauls,  and  further  exonerates 
.Spartacus  from  having  come  to  this  fate,  by  any  crimes 
he  had  committed.86  He  was  forced  there  by  the  injus- 
tice of  his  master.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  opinion  of 
Sir  Edward  Bulwer  Lytton,  that  Roman  gladiators  were 
superior  to  the  Gaul  or  other  imported  contestants  at  the 
Pompeian,  and  of  course,  the  Capuan  amphitheatres ;  and 
we  are  to  infer  from  him  that  Eoman  vigor  and  strength 
were  superior  to  all  other  even  at  the  metropolis  of  Rome. 
But  we  must  ever  bear  in  mind  that  this  Roman  blood 
was  native;  that  although  it  was  servile  by  heredity  through 
long  generations  from  plebeian  parentage  as  the  element 
of  outcasts,  yet  it  was  actually  Roman  blood;  while  the 
Thracian  element  was  actually  of  Greek  blood,  and  that 
in  consequence  a  gladiatorial  fight  between  a  Thracian 
Greek  and  a  Roman  stirred  up  the  Roman  spirit  of  emu- 
lation on  grounds  of  national  pride ;  since  they  fancied 

35  •'  ii  avait  servi  dans  les  legions  comme  auxiliaire,  mais  trop  fler  pour  ac- 
cepter une  servitude  deguisee  sous  le  nom  d'alliance,  il  avait  deserte  a  la  tete  d' 
une  troupe  cle  ses  conpatriots,  mais  repris  et  vendu  son  courage  et  sa  force 
etaient  employes  en  qualite  de  gladiateur."    La  Kousse,  Dictionnaire  Universe!. 

36  Plutarch,  Marcus    Crassus,   8 :    "  Ae'vrvAou   rtfos   Bartarov   jiovojuaxous   lv 
KaTTv'fj  Tpe'$o»TOs,  &v  o'i  iroAAoi  ToAaTai  KOI  ©paxes  r)<ra.v."     Floras  Annales,  III.  20: 

''quippecum  servi  militaverint,  gladiatores  imperaverint,  illi  inflmaa 

Bortis  homines,  hi  pessimEB,  auxere  ludibrio  calamitatem."    So  also  Schambacli, 
Italisdie  Sklavenanfstand  VI,  S.  18-19,  who  puts  the  proportion  one. third  Thraci- 
ans  and  two-thirds  Gauls  in  the  armies  of  Spartacus ;  "  Zuru  Oberanliihrer  waul- 
ten  Kie  jetzt  den  Thraker  Spartacus,  zu  Unteraniuhrern  die  beiden  Gallier  Crixus 
uud  CEnomaus.    Mit  grosser  Wahrscheiulichkeit  diirfen  wir  aus  diesen  Wahlen 
in  Bezug  auf  die  ZusammensetzuiipyAes  Haufeiis  den  Sellings  y.iehen,  das  etwa 
ein-drittel  Thraker  zwei-drittel  Galliern  gegeniiberstanden,  ein  Verha'ltuis,  wel- 
ches sich  anch  in  weiteren  Verlauf  der  Ereigmsse  uicht  wesentlich  iindert," 


290  SPARPACUS. 

they  beheld  in  the  bloody  duel  a  recapitulation  of  the 
more  serious  conflicts  with  Pyrrhus  or  Mithridates.  We 
know  that  on  occasions  of  the  games  at  the  amphitheatres, 
when  Romans  were  to  meet  Gauls  or  Greeks,  the  adver- 
tisements were  more  pronounced  and  the  betting  ran 
ruinously  high  among  the  rich  frequenters  of  the  ring. 
Undoubtedly  Spartacus,  who  spoke  Greek  and  Latin  with 
facility,  was  aware  of  this.  B  e  had,  as  a  scholar  under 
Lentulus  Batiatus,  either  in  the  open  functions  or  at  re- 
hearsals, severely  punished,  by  his  giant  muscular  force 
and  mastership  of  the  art  of  swordsmanship  and  pugilism, 
many  wretches  whose  lot  like  his  own  was  to  measure 
strength  and  science  alike  with  friend  and  foe. 

But  although  of  prodigious  courage,  aptness  and  phys- 
ical energy,  Spartacus  was  humane  and  generous;  and 
his  nature  revolted  against  the  hideous  character  of  his 
employment.  He  loved  the  memory  of  his  native  hills 
and  valleys.  His  central  desire  was  to  reach  home  and 
spend  in  quiet  the  remainder  of  his  eventful  life.  Be- 
sides, his  wife,  also  a  Thracian  Greek,  was  ever  at  his  side 
with  her  loving  tones  of  encouragement.  Plutarch  says 
that  she  was  possessed  of  the  gift  of  divination.  He  relates 
that  Spartacus  when  taken  prisoner  was  first  brought  to 
Rome  to  be  sold.  While  there,  a  serpent  was  once,  as 
he  slumbered,  discovered  twinning  caressingly  about  his 
head  and  locks  ;  whereupon  on  inquiry  by  superstitious 
people,  as  to  the  import  of  this  strange  action  of  the 
gods,  she  answered  in  her  public  capacity  as  retainer  to 
the  orgies  of  Bacchus,  that  this  conduct  of  the  friendly 
reptile  betokened  that  her  husband  would  rise  to  be  great 
and  formidable,  and  die  happy!  "  Unfortunately  for  the 
Romans  he  rose  to  be  formidable  to  say  the  least. 

w  Plutarch,  Marcus  Crassus,  8;  "It  is  said  when  he  was  first  brought  to  Roma 
to  be  sold,  a  serpent  was  seen  twisted  about  his  face  as  he  slept.  His  wife,  who 
was  of  the'same  tribe,  having  the  gift  of  divination,  and  being  a  retainer  besides 
to  the  orgies  of  Bacchus,  said,  it  was  a  sign  that  he  would  rise  to  something 
very  great  and  formidable,  the  result  of  which  would  be  happy.  This  woman 
still  lived  with  him,  and  was  the  companion  of  his  flight."  According  to  Taci- 
tus, however,  she  was  a  German;  for  in  his  Germanise,  a  curious  chapter  occurs 
in  her  praise,  setting  her  forth  as  an  example  of  the  heroism  of  the  ancient  Ger- 
man women. See  infra,  p.  303  note  73,  We  quote  the  excellent  statement  of  Scham- 
bach  on  this  point;  Italische  Sktavenaufstand,  V ,  S.  16 ;  "Was  des  Spartacus 
friihere  Lebensschicksale  anlangt,  so  steht  fest,  dass  er  eine  Zeit  lang  unter  deu 
Hilfatruppen  im  romischen  Solde  gestanden  hat,  vielleicht  in  dem  Heere  des 
Proconsul  P.  Claudius,  der  die  noch  freien  Sta'mme  der  makedonischen  Thraker 
unterwerfen  sollte.  Hier  hat  er  sich  wahrscheinlich  jene  genaue  Kenntniss  ties 
romischen  Herrwesens  erworben,  welche  die  unerlassliche  Vorbedingung  zu 


THE  CAPUAN  "BUTCHER-MASTER."  291 

But  whatever  the  vicissitudes  of  Spartacus  at  Rome,  it 
is  certainly  at  Capua,  many  miles  from  the  eternal  city, 
that  we  must  introduce  him.  He  must  have  been  sent  to 
the  Capuan  school  of  gladiators  to  be  trained  in  the 
science  of  those  ferocious  combats  with  an  object  of  being 
sent  back  to  Rome  prepared  ad  gladium  or  ad  ludum,39 
for  the  amphitheatre  which  afterwards,  at  the  Coliseum 
became  the  scenes  of  brutalities  and  abominations,  such 
as  the  world  has  seldom  witnessed.  Neither  are  we  pre- 
pared to  state  whether  Batiatus  the  lanista  or  "  butcher- 
master"  of  Capua,  was  to  prepare  him  for  the  full-armor 
games  of  the  hoplomachi  or  for  the  deadly  Thracian  dag- 
ger duels  "  to  promote  the  pleasure  of  gentlemen." 39  But 
for  whatever  exact  purpose  he  was  designed  at  the  arena 
they  were  doomed  to  disappointment. 

At  Capua  there  was  at  that  moment  an  organization  of 
the  unguentarii  *°  who  furnished,  it  is  said,  all  Italy  with 
perfumes  of  the  richest  quality  and  who  in  carrying  on 
this  trade  under  the  rules  of  their  collegium  or  labor  union 
realized,  so  long  as  the  ancient  law  applied  in  their  case, 
a  good  living  as  wage  earners.  Considering  the  amount 

ednen  zukuftigen  Siegen  war.  Nach  Fiorus  ist  er  godann  desertirt  u.  Strassen- 
riiuber  geworden,  als  solcher  gefangen  und  unter  die  Gladiatoren  verurtheilt. 
Wit  dieser  Ueberlieferung  stimmte  indessen  Appian  I,  116,  i<  Si  aix^oAioo-ta?  xai 
r-pacrews  tv  rots  ftoi/o/taxow  <av  nicht  uberein,  und  auch  ein  Fragment  Varro's  be! 
Charts.  I,  p.  108,  Innocente  Varro  de  rebus  nrbanis  tertio,  Spartaco  innocente 
cunjecto  ad  gladium  spricht  gegen  Floras.  Dass  er  mehrmals  seinen  Herrn  ge- 
wechselt,  ehe  er  in  des  Cn.  Lentulus  Batiatus  Fechtersohule  nach  Capua  kam, 
Buheint  ans  Plut.  Crass.  8 ;  ore  irpiarov  «i?  'Pianrjv  iovios  rjx^t  hervorzugehen.  Pla- 
tai-ch  erzahlt  auch  noch  die  Sage,  dass  nach  seinen  Ankunft  in  Bom  sich  eine 
seinen  klinftigen  Siegen  war.  Nach  Florns  ist  er  sodann  desertirt  und  Strassen- 
iSchlange  im  Schale  um  sein  Haupt  gewunden  und  dasg  eine  thrakische  Wahr- 
sr.gerin  dies  dahin  gedentet  babe, '  er  werde  gross  und  furchtbar  und  bis  an  sein 
v.ngiuckliches  Ende  gliicklich  sein,'  eine  Prophezeiung,  die  in  ihrem  letzten 
Theile  an  Allgemeinheit  nichts  zu  wiinnchen  iibrig  lasst. 

ss  To  be  killed  by  decree  of  law,  or  to  be  saved  after  three  years  of  service, 
in  successful  competitive  fights.  Very  few  ad  ludum  gladiators,  ever  came  out 
alive. 

39 Floras,  Annales,  HI,  20,  §8;  "Nee  abnuit,  ille  de  stipendario  Thracse  miles, 
de  milite  deserter;  inde  latro,  dein  in  honore  virorum  gladiator." 

40  Unguentarii;  see  chapter  xii,  on  Trade  Unions,  Capua  is  also  the  seat  of  the 
curious  historical  inscription  of  Aquillius,  (Orelli,  Inscriptionum  Lai.ina.rwm.  C'olleo- 
tio.  No.  3,  308),  which  speaks  of  the  917  runaway  slaves  restored  by  him  to  their 
masters,  during  the  great  Sicilian  Slave  war  (chap,  xi.,  Athenion),  which  could 
not  have  been  inscribed  more  than  about  17  years  before.  We  therefore  quote 
the  inscription  entire  as  it  furnishes  evidence  of  what  must  have  been  the  state 
ot  feeling  with  working  people  at  the  time  the  war  with  Spartacus  broke  out  at 
Capua:  "  M  Aquillius,  M.  F.  Gailus.  procos  viam  fecei  ab  regio  ad  Capuam  et  in 
ta  via  Ponteis  omneis  meiliarios  tabellariosque  poseiuei  hince  sunt  Nouceriam 
tieilia  Captuam  XXCm,  Muranum  IXXI1I  cosentiam  CXX1II  Valentiam  CLXXX. 
ad  Fretum  ad  statuam  CCXXXI  regium  CCXXXVII,  surua  Af  Capua  regium 
meiliaCCCXXI.  Et  eidcm  praetor  in  Sicilia  fagiteivos.  Italicorum  conquaesinei 
rodeiqnc  homines  DCCCCXVII  eidemque  primus  fecei.  tit  de  agro  poblico  ara- 
torilms  cederent  paastores  forum  aedisqne  poblicas  heic  fecei." 


292  SPARTACUS. 

of  demand  for  such  an  article  in  the  most  extravagant 
and  luxurious  era  of  Roman  wealth,  we  must  infer  that 
the  business  employed  a  large  number  of  people.  But 
just  at  this  moment  the  senate  at  Home  was  seriously 
contemplating  the  suppression  of  the  trade  unions.  We 
know  that  this  contemplated  suppression  was  desperately 
resisted  both  by  the  unions  and  some  of  the  tribunes  of 
the  people  and  other  men  of  power ;  and  if  we  are  to  sup- 
pose that  the  men  were  as  keenly  on  the  alert  in  those 
days  as  they  now  are,  we  cannot  but  imagine  that  their 
influence  if  not  their  numbers,  were  lent  toward  kindling 
this  servile  war.  For  this  reason  if  for  no  other,  it  i& 
highly  important  that  we  should  know  this  story. 

The  auspices  were  all  favorable  to  Spartacus  while  at 
Capua,  who,  together  with  200  of  the  Thracian,  Galh'c  and 
Roman  gladiators,  plotted  a  measure  for  escape.  The 
plan  was  to  stealthily  secure  the  knives  and  other  arti- 
cles to  be  found  in  the  kitchens  and  eating  rooms  of  the 
institution,  and  with  these,  make  a  rush  in  a  body  for  the 
principal  doorway  which  was  guarded  by  Roman  sol- 
diers. Just  before  the  appointed  moment  arrived,  how- 
ever, a  certain  person  enrolled  in  the  conspiracy  let  hia 
courage  forsake  him;  or  it  may  be,  was  bribed  by  secret 
detectives  to  reveal  the  truth.  However  this  may  have 
been,  a  dash  by  the  officers  of  the  law  was  suddenly  made 
for  the  arrest  of  the  insurrectionists,  which  would  have 
succeeded  had  not  Spartacus  put  his  utmost  efforts  forth 
to  prevent  it — being  actually  ahead  of  time.  As  it  was, 
78  of  the  most  trustworthy  and  daring  burst  through 
the  door  into  the  street  and  thence  out  of  town.  The  78 
men43  had  succeeded  in  providing  themselves  with  long 


^i^aiiguuiiie:, /  tanya.,     vjiie.LjejiLuiu&  .LmuaLio    Kepu  ni  i^Jlpua        num  g'u- 

tors,  the  greatest  part  of  which  were  Gauls  and  Thracians ;  men  not  reduced  to 
that  employment  for  any  crimes  they  had  committed,  but  forced  upon  it  by  their 
master.  Two  hundred  of  them,  therefore,  agreed  to  make  their  escape.  Though 


F1XST  BATTLE.  298 

knivea  and  any  other  things  they  could  lay  hands  on 
which  could  be  used  as  weapons.** 

The  first  battle  was  fought  with  the  troops  of  the  gar- 
rison at  Capua,  and  if  we  are  to  credit  the  hints  of  Plu- 
tarch the  conflict  must  be  considered  both  the  opening 
battle  and  victory  of  Spartacus.  The  Capuan  troops,  af- 
ter the  escape  of  the  seventy-four,  attacked  them,  as  they 
gained  the  gates  and  passages  into  the  open  road ;  but 
by  some  dexterous  charge  were  defeated  by  the  gladia- 
tors and  compelled  to  return  empty-handed  to  the  gar- 
rison. They  took  the  main  road,  presumably  the  Appian 
Way,  which,  leading  from  Home  through  the  city  of 
Capua,  joins  the  Via  Aquilia  about  five  miles  to  the  south 
of  this  place.  The  Via  Aquilia,  parting  from  the  Appian 
Way  to  the  right,  leads  almost  directly  to  the  foot  of 
Mount  Vesuvius,  a  distance  from  Capua  of  nineteen  or 
twenty  miles.  It  was  on  this  march  that  the  fugitives  met 
some  wagons  loaded  with  a  quantity  of  daggers,  swords 
and  knives  which  they  were  taking  to  the  city.  These 
weapons  were  to  be  used  by  gladiators  in  the  arena;  and 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  they  were  intended  for  these  fugi- 
tives' own  use  at  the  Capuan  amphitheatre.  Implements 
BO  much  needed  were,  of  course,  instantly  seized,  though 
not  without  a  fight.  Thus  equipped  they  reached  a 
mountain  ledge  in  safety.  On  personal  inspection  of  the 
place  we  are  inclined  to  conjecture  that  Spartacus  and 
his  friends  first  reached  the  northeasterly  base  of  Vesu- 
vius, or  that  part  which  is  now  the  fragment  of  the  volcano  ** 
and  known  as  the  "  Somma,"  whose  separate  peak  five 
miles  eastward  from  the  crater  is  called  the  "Punta  del 
Nasone "  and  is  nearly  4,000  feet  above  the  sea  which  is 
visible  to  the  westward.  At  that  time,  before  the  erup- 
tion, it  must  have  been  5,000  or  6,000  feet  high. 

«  Plutarch,  Marcus  Crassus,  9,  in  relating  these  things  speaks  very  bitterly 
•gainst  them,  as  beiug  mere  barbarians:  "  Kai  itpiarov  n±v  TOUS  «  Kajruijs  e\86v- 
Tas  wcra/xei'Oi,  »cai  iroAAwi'  birAiov  en-iAajSojxei'Oi  JroAe>xi<7T7)piii>v,  acrjxti'ot  Taura  /LL«T«- 
Aa^i/Sayof .  GLiroppniayT*?,  to?  OLTL^LCI  KCU  /3ap/3apcL,  TO,  Tuv  fxcpo/iavciji'."  Florus  and 

Cicero  put  the  number  of  the  first  gladiators  down  as  low  as  possible  :  "  Cum 
Spartaco  minus  multi  prima  fuerant.  Quid  tandem  isti  mali  in  tain  tenera  in- 
sula  non  fecissent  ?  "  Cicero,  Ad  Alticum,  Liber  VI.  Epistola,  2.  Florus,  Annalet, 
III.  20,  §.  1,  declares  there  were  scarcely  more  than  30  who  escaped  with  Sparta- 
*us:  "Spartacus,  Crixus,  ^nomaus,  etfracto  Lentuli  ludo,  cum  triginta  haud 
am  pi  i  us  ejusdem  fortunse  viris  eruperunt  Capua."  Consult  also  Frontin,  LXXIV. 
1,  5,  21;  Vellejus  Paterculus,  II,  30.  (i. 

44  Vesuvius  was  not  known  to  have  «v«r  had  an  eruption  at  that  time.  Ap- 
piun,  Histaria  Romano,,  1. 116,  only  says :  "  iv  TO  Becr^tof  opos  avefvyev."  Plutarch 


294  SPAJKTACUS. 

Here  the  fugitives  took  refuge  among  the  crags  and 
wild  vines  that  overhung  the  mountain  side.  It  was  at  a 
point  where  there  was  but  one  approach,  that  they  fixed 
their  first  resting  place.  This  was  a  projecting  table-rock 
which  shelved  forward  over  a  craggy  precipice  embowered 
in  the  foliage  of  wild  grape  vines.46  Here,  on  a  crag  ris- 
ing perpendicularly  over  an  immense  chasm,  the  littfe 
band  pitched  their  tents.  They  held  a  council  of  war  and 
elected  Spartacus  commander-in-chief  and  Crixus  and 
CEnomaus,46  his  lieutenants.  Spartacus,  now  in  full  com- 
mand, immediately  began  to  exercise  those  gifts  of  genius, 
foresight  and  power  which  have  covered  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  military  pages  in  the  history  of  either  ancient  or 
modern  times.41 

As  might  be  expected,  the  people  of  Capua  were  filled 
with  terror  at  the  escape  of  the  gladiators.48  There  was 
a  feeling  of  shame  and  humiliation  based  upon  the  fact 
that  the  rebels  were  slaves.  To  combat  with  equals  had 
ever  been  the  pride  of  Rome;  but  to  bring  her  noble  arms 
to  bear  against  a  thing  so  low  and  hateful  in  the  scale  of 
being  as  a  servile  revolt  was,  from  a  social  point  of  view,  a 
national  degradation  and  a  disgrace. 

Nevertheless,  the  report  reached  Rome  that  the  gladia- 
tors under  Spartacus,  the  prophetic  giant,  had  revolted 
and  escaped  to  the  mountains,  and  a  large  detachment  of 
troops,  who  were  probably  stationed  at  Capua,  was  sent 

•who  must  have  borrowed  from  Sallust  (See-  Schambacb,  S.  9),  is  our  principal: 
source  for  these  details. 

*5  La  Rousse,  Dictionnaire  Universel,  Art.  Spartacus,  Bee  also  Plutarch,  Marcut 
Crassus,  VIIL,  IX. 

*•  Flor.,  in,  20,  8.  1.  "  Spartacus,  Criius,  (Enomaus,  effracto  Lentuli  ludo. 
cum  triginta  baud  amplius  ejusdem  fortunes  viris," 

*'  Schambacb.,  Der  Jtalische  Sklavenaufttand.V.  8.15:  "Plutarch>  sagt  1m 
Leben  des  Crassus  cap.  8  :  oi  troAAoi  t-no.p-ra.Kti.ov  no\tfiov  bvofidfovcri  und  Florus, 
der  die  eicilischen  Sklavenkriege  'bellum  servile'  nennt,  setzt  uber  das  rwan- 
tlgste  Capital  des  dritten  Bnches  die  Ueberschrift '  bellum  Spartacium,'  bringt  den 
italischen  Sklavenkrieg  also  in  erne  Katagorie  mit  den  andern  grossen  Kriegen 
(wie  dem  bellum  Hannibalicum,  Sertorianum  Mithridaticum),  in  denen  ein 
Mann  BO  vorwiegend  als  die  Seele  des  Eamfes  erscheiut,  dass  dieser  nach  ihm 
benannt  zu  werden  verdient.  Zwar  finden  wir  bei  den  romischen  Autoren  voiv 
wiegend  andere  Bezeichnungen,  z.  B.  bellum  servile  (Augustin  de  c.  d.  HI,  26, 
Ampel.  c.  41,  45),  servilis  tumultus  (Caes.  b.  G.  I,  40),  bellum  fugitivorum 
(Front),  '  hoc  fugitivorum  et  ut  verius  dicam  gladiatorum  bellum '  (Oros.);  aber 
alien  diesen  Benennungen  liegt  die  Absicht  zu  Grunde,  den  verhassten  Filhrer 
der  Aufstandiscben  nicht  wider  Willen  zu  Nachrahm  zu  verhelfen." 

48  In  further  proof  that  originally  the  paterfamilias  had  the  right  to  enslava 
or  even  kill  his  children,  see  Canon  Laghtfoot,  on  The  Collossians,  p.  312,  quoting 
the  Digest,  i.  6.  "  In  potestate  stint  servi  domiiiorum  :  quae  quidem  poteeta* 
juris  gentium  est:  nam  apud  omnes  peraeque  gentes  animadvertere  possuiuuj 
dotuiiiis  in  servos  vitae  necisque  potestatem  fuisse." 


SECOND   BATTLE.  295 

out  under  the  command  of  the  Roman  praetor,  Clodiua 
Glaber,  to  subdue  them.49  One  account  gives  the  number 
of  this  force  at  just  3,000  men.  Clodius  appeared  at  the 
base  of  the  precipice  during  the  day,  knowing  that  the 
rebels  were  on  the  height  above  him.  The  army,  how- 
ever, took  up  its  quarters  at  one  side  of  the  acclivity  to 
the  ascent  of  which'  there  was  but  one  approach.  This 
they  guarded  to  prevent  the  gladiators  from  escape  in  the 
night. 

Now  was  the  time  for  the  wily  Spartacus,  whose  band 
was  without  suitable  arms  for  a  contest.  The  duel  was 
to  consist  in  the  measure  of  comparative  wit.  When 
evening  came  Spartacus  and  his  men  who  during  the  day 
had  taken  vines  and  of  them  woven  ladders  sufficiently 
strong  to  hold  the  heaviest  man  and  long  enough  to  reach 
the  foot  of  the  overhanging  precipice  back  of  whose  cap- 
stone the  band  lay  intrenched,  let  themselves  down  in 
such  silence  as  not  to  awaken  the  suspicion  of  the  slum- 
bering army.  All  descended  the  ladder  empty-handed 
in  this  manner,  except  one  man  who  remained  to  lower 
the  arms;  after  which  he  also  climbed  down  and  thus  all 
succeeded  uninjured,  in  reaching  the  plain  below,  at  a 
point  least  suspected  by  the  Romans,50  Profound  silence 
reigned.  The  proud  prsetor  and  his  3,000  men  were  now 
but  a  few  steps  from  where  stood  those  desperate  slaves 
who  well  knew  that  one  slip  or  false  action  might  end 
their  lives. 

Spartacus,  ranged  his  men  in  a  manner  to  surround 
the  Roman  encampment.  When  all  was  ready  the  start- 
ling whoop  of  onset  was  given  and  the  gladiators  centering 
in,  apparently  in  large  numbers,  with  their  terrifying  war- 
cry  and  death-dealing  weapons,  completely  routed  those 
whom  they  did  not  kill  upon  the  spot.  The  rout  of  the 
Romans  was  complete  and  the  rebels  remained  masters 
of  their  baggage  and  arms,  74  Roman  cohorts  being  killed 
on  the  spot.51 

<9  Compare  Floras,  III.  20,  4.  "  Clodio  Glabro,  per  fauces  mentis  vitigineas." 
See  Schambach,  Italischer  Sklavenaufsland,  VI.  S.  19.  Also  International  Encyc, 
Art  Spartacus,  Livy,  Epitome,  XCV.,  gives  the  name  of  the  Roman  legate  aa 
Claudius  Puleher."  Appian  says  Varinius  Glabrus,  1. 116.  ..."  «u  n-puTo*  eir1 
avTbv  «/cTrem<j>i>eU  'Ovapivios  rAa,3pos."  But  he  gives  us  very  little  of  this  first 
strategical  manoeuvre  and  battle,  and  passes  on  to  the  greater  conflicts  which 
followed, 

so  Plutarch,  Marcus  Crassus,  8;  Frontinus.  I.  5,  22. 

"  Frontinus,  I.  5,  21.    "Cohortes  gladiatoribus  quatuor  et  Septuaginta  ces- 


296  SPARTACUS. 

The  result  of  this  second  success  was  electrifying.  On 
the  part  of  the  Romans,  public  sentiment  was  filled  with 
humiliation  and  disgust.  Arrangements  were  immedi- 
ately made  at  Rome  to  send  a  powerful  force,  under  a 
leader  in  whom  they  had  confidence ;  and  Publius  Varinius, 
a  praetor,  was  sent  south  at  the  command  of  a  large  body 
of  troops  ably  supported  by  .two  lieutenants,  Furius  and 
Cossinius.  The  prsetor  had  so  much  faith  in  Cossinius 
that  he  made  him  his  assistant  and  chief  counselor. 

Spartacus,  who  had  gained  this  decisive  victory  at  the 
precipice  of  Vesuvius,  was  cool  and  calm,  full  of  the  sense 
of  his  responsibility  and  still  unwavering  in  the  child-like 
desire  to  reach  safely  his  native  home,  far  to  the  north- 
ward, across  the  Adriatic.  He  had  the  ripe  judgment  to 
foreknow  that  the  Romans  when  aroused  were  invincible. 

But  resolutely  suiting  the  opportunity  to  the  circum- 
stances, he  issued  a  proclamation  of  emancipation  and  pro- 
tection to  all  the  slaves  who  should  join  his  force.  Mul- 
titudes of  cattle-drivers,  shepherds,  herdsmen  and  others 
whose  condition  had  been  degraded  by  the  land-holders 
to  slavery,  appeared  before  him  offering  their  allegi- 
ance. They  were  accepted  and  armed  with  implements 
wrested  from  Clodius,  at  the  ambuscade  of  Vesuvius. 
The  entire  force  under  Clodius  Glaber,  being  only  given 
at  3,000  there  could  not  have  been  arms  enough  for  more 
than  that  number,  unless  some  of  the  volunteers  furnished 
their  own  weapons.  This  might  have  been  the  case;  but 
to  offset  the  argument  that  the  servile  auxiliaries  used 
other  than  the  dignified  miltary  armor,  we  have  a  passage 
in  Plutarch,  declaring  that  at  the  first  skirmish  against  a 
detachment  from  Capua  where  the  gladiators  w^re  victor- 
ious they  threw  away  their  knives  as  things  u  disgraceful, 
dishonorable  and  barbarous." 

His  wish  was  constantly  to  secure  arms,  and  naturally; 
for  immediately  on  the  defeat  of  Clodius  Glaber,  the  reii- 
egajle  force  of  78  gladiators  from  Capua  swelled  into  an 

serint ;"  See  also  Flor.,  HI.  20 :  "  Nihil  tale  opinantis  duels,  subito  impetu  cas- 
tra  rapuere."  Schambach,  Italischer  Sklavenkrieg,  S.  20,  says:  "  Alle  Machrich- 
ten  stimmen  nemlich  darin  iiberein,  class  die  Fechter  an  Zahl  unendlich  viel  ge- 
ringer  waren,  Frontin  1,  6,  21  gibt  sogar  an,  es  seien  noch  die  74  allein  gewesen: 
verum  etiam  ex  alio  latere  Clodium  ita  terruit.ut  aliquot  cohortes  gladiatoribus 
quatuor  et  septnaginta  cesserint.  Der  Angriff  gelang  volletiindig,  die  romischen 
•  milites  tumultuarii '  raumtenfliehend  das  Feld  und  liesseu  ihr  Lager  mit  allein 
Gepiick  im  Stich,  das  erne  Bente  der  Emporer  wurdc." 


THIRD  AND  FOURTH  BATTLES.  297 

army  of  10,000  "  men  of  great  vigor  and  very  swift  run- 
ners." and  Spartacus  "  covered  them  with  armor,  some 
heavy,  some  light  for  picket  duty."81  As  the  cities  of 
Herculaneum  and  Pompeii  were  but  a  few  miles  distant 
to  the  south  and  west,  it  is  quite  possible  that  he  realized 
not  only  arms  but  many  volunteers  from  that  quarter. 
The  indomitable  rebel  now  set  himself  about  drilling  his 
men  into  military  service.  The  wretched  ergastuli  were 
changed  into  free  men  who  assumed  military  dignity,5* 
from  the  moment  of  their  desertion  from  their  masters  thus 
realizing  immediate  participation,  without  having  to  linger 
upon  the  anticipations  of  promise.  "With  10,000  desperate 
soldiers  under  rigid  drill  he  soon  felt  himself  capable  to 
cope  with  a  praetorian  army.  Nor  had  he  long  to  wait. 

The  Roman  praetor,  Publius  Varinius,  as  already  stated, 
•was  in  the  same  year,  B.  C.  74,  sent  with  a  large  army  to 
put  an  end  to  the  trouble.54  He  had  two  lieutenants, 
Furius  and  Cossinius.  Varinius  placed  much  confidence 
in  Cossinius  as  a  man  of  uncommon  judgment.  But  the 
combined  wisdom  of  both  was  not  enough  to  induce  the 
Roman  army  to  keep  together;  for  Furius  was  sent  with 
a  strong  detachment  of  2,000  men  against  the  "  common 
robber."  w  Spartacus,  perceiving  the  Koman  army  divided 
into  two  columns,  fell  upon  the  weakest  line,  that  of  Fu- 

w  Plntarch,  Marcus  Orasms  ;  Floras,  in.  20,  3,  also  speaks  of  the  10,000  as  fol- 
lr\rs:  " Servisque  ad  vexillum  vocatis,  cum  statim  decem  amplius  millia  cois- 
sent  hominum."  Plutarch,  Marcus  Orassus,  correctly  applies  this  estimate  after 
rather  than  before  the  battle  of  the  ambuscade. 

83  Smith's  Dictionairy  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities,  Art.  Spartacus,  The 
runaways  resorted  to  all  sorts  of  expedients  to  obtain  arms  and  munitions.  See 
Florus,  m.  20,  6.  "  Affluentibus  in  diem  copiis,  qunm  jam  esset  Justus  exercitns 
e  viminibus  pecudumque  tegumentis,  inconditos  edbi  clipeos;  e  ferro  ergastulo- 
rum  recocto  gladiog  ac  tela  fecerunt."  So  also  Appian,  De  Belli*  CivMbut,  I. 
11&-117:  "  Herd  6«  TOUTO  SirapraKu  fiev  tn  fia\\ov  jroAAol  (rvvedeov,  nai  enra  /ivpta- 
ttt  Jitrav  T)J7j  crrpaToO,  xai  o-Aa  e^aAxeve,  ecu  ita.piuTKf\>i)v  <rvve\fyfvt  oi  &'  iv  ao-rei 
Towy  VTTOTOVS  (£eircij.wov  fiera  Siio  re\iav." 

M  Appian,  De  Belli*  Civilibus,  I.  116.  "  M«pi^o/neV»  &'  aurw  TO  KtpSri  KO.T 
t<ro/aotpiav  ravii  7rA^t>os  ?iv  avSpuv,  <cal  irpwro?  err"  avrov  «*ir«fi<^det«  'OvoptVio?  TAa/S- 
pos.  ciri  5'  ixnvif  IloTrAio?  'OvaAeptot,  ov  iroAiTtKTji'  orpaTiav  ayovTa  aAA  oaou?  iv 
VTTOv&fj  Kai  napoSa  crvyeAefav  (ow  yap  iria  'Pu/xaiot  TroAf^toi',  oAA"  eiri&potiTJt>  TLVO.  Kai 
Aj)<mjpi<[>  TO  ipyov  ofj.oiovi)yovvTO  eii'oi),<ri;^i^aAot'T«s^TTfc>i^-o.  'Ovapivt'ou  Sf  <cai  rov 
IJTTTOI'  avTOf  2irapTaxot  ircpt<nroJTt'  >rapa  rbtrovTov  fi\de  KivSvvov  'fiananav  o  <TTpa- 
tTjybs  avTO?  oi^/jiaAwTos  tSuro  /iOFO/ttOYOU  ytvitr&a.<.." 

»*  Horace,  Carmina,  liber,  III.  Carmen.  14,  lines  18-20; 
"  Et  cadem  Marsi  memorem  duelli, 
Spartacum  si  qua  pctuit  vagantem 

Fallere  testa." 

Cornelias  Tacitus,  Annales,  lib.  in.  cap.  73,  speaks  of  the  successes  of  Spartacns 
as  shameful  applying  the  epithets  "robbsrand  deserter."  "Non  alias  magis 
•na  populique  Komani  contumelia  indoluigse  Caesarem  ferunt,  quam  quod  de- 
Bertor  et  praedo  hoetium  more  ageret,  ne  Spartaco  quidem  post  tot  conaularium 
exercituum  clades  multam  Italiam  urenti." 


29»  SPARTACUS. 

rius,  and  with  an  impetous  dash,  broke  through  his  main 
body,  routing  and  destroying  nearly  the  entire  detach- 
ment. The  larger  force  however  remained,  commanded 
by  Cossinius,  the  legate  and  confidential  adviser  of  the 
commander-in-chief.  That  worthy,  doubtless,  incredulous 
regarding  the  abilities  of  the  man  he  was  to  cope  with,  so 
far  forgot  the  rigorous  vigilance  of  war  as  to  indulge  in 
the  tempting  baths  of  Salense.  The  eagle-eye  of  Sparta- 
cus  bent  upon  the  prey.  While  the  Roman  was  thus 
luxuriating,  the  gladiators  rushed  with  fierce  rapidity  and 
like  a  thunderbolt  struck  the  spot,  and  very  nearly  suc- 
ceeded in  seizing  Cossinus  in  the  bath.  He  escaped,  how- 
ever, with  precipitation,  but  his  army  was  attacked  by 
surprise,  routed,  large  numbers  killed  and  Cossinus  him- 
self in  attempting  to  restore  order  was  slain  in  battle 
which  covered  the  field  with  the  dead.  The  conquering 
legions  followed  up  the  victory  and  made  themselves  mas- 
ters of  the  camps  of  the  Roman  army. 

The  report  of  this  victory  at  the  Baths  of  Salenae  sprea4 
like  wildfire  through  the  land.  Slaves  rushed  into  the 
camp  of  the  rebels,  offering  their  services  in  exchange 
for  freedom.  The  newly  gotten  arms  were  transferred 
from  the  Romans  to  the  sun-baked  and  brawny  hands  of 
the  rebels.  The  drill  and  mili tary  manoeuvre  went  rigor- 
ously and  with  great  system  forward  in  their  camp;  and 
while  the  hopes  of  the  unsophisticated  bondmen  beat 
high  the  pride  of  the  Roman  nobility  and  citizens  was 
mortified  and  crushed. 

Varinius  M  with  the  remnant  of  his  army,  consisting  of 
the  greater  fraction  of  the  original  force,  was  in  the  vicin* 
ity,  or  at  least,  not  very  far  from  the  scene  of  the  last  dis- 
aster in  which  Cossinius  met  his  fate.  There  are  no  data 
extant  which  give  the  full  accounts  of  this  encounter.  To 
the  student  of  sociology  it  must  be  announced  with  keen 
regrets  that  the  entire  three  books  of  Livy  covering  the 
space  of  time  between  74  and  71  B.  C.,  are,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  epitome  of  books,  XCV.,  XCVI.  and 
XCVTL,  completely  lost.  A  discovery  of  the  lost  author- 
ities would  indeed  be  a  rich  legacy  to  the  science  of  so- 
ciology. Exactly  similar  is  the  fate  of  the  great  Libri  His- 

w  Publius  Varinius  according  to  Hutai-gli,  although  Appian  says  Varinio* 
Glabros. 


FIFTH  BATTLE.       VARINIUS  DEFEATED. 


toriarum,  of  Sallust.51  Of  all  writers  on  ancient  history, 
Sallust  and  Livy  rank  among  the  most  plain-spoken  and 
manly.  By  the  epitomies  and  fragments  still  extant  we 
know  that  these  missing  histories  of  the  servile  war  were 
elaborately  written  ;  and  judging  from  the  careful  study 
and  insertion  of  figures,  speeches  and  other  literary  con- 
diments which  spice  their  narrations  we  should,  had  they 
not  perished,  be  supplied  with  a  flood  of  new  details  re- 
garding this  servile  war.  Those  inestimable  jewels  are, 
however,  lost,  unless  some  Niebuhr  arises  to  rescue  them 
from  their  dusty  shadows.  The  triumphs  of  Spartacus 
were  an  unendurable  stigma  upon  the  Roman  name,  and 
the  shame  which  the  successes  of  gladiators  and  slaves 
infiicied,  though  it  could  not  be  effaced  from  memory, 
could  be  expunged  or  obliterated  by  destroying  the  books 
and  by  acts  as  barbarous  as  that  which  afterwards  lined 
the  drives  for  miles  both  sides  of  the  Appian  Way  with 
the  crucified  followers  of  this  general. 

Spartacus  soon  after  made  a  formidable  onset  upon 
Varinius,  who  was  overthrown,  showing  this  to  have  been 
a  great  battle.  Much  obscurity  hangs  over  this  engage- 
ment." Could  the  whole  truth  be  revealed  we  should 
perhaps  be  presented  with  one  of  the  world's  bloodiest 
struggles;  for  we  are  informed  by  Plntarch  that  about 
this  time  the  army  of  Spartacus  had  greatly  swollen,  and 
Appian  declares  it  to  have  reached  70,000  men.  The 
Roman  general  was  overthrown.  He  lost  all  his  troops, 
his  horses,  baggage,  and  his  praetorian  fasces.  In  fact  he 
was  annihilated;  for  we  hear  no  more  of  him. 

«  See  Schambach's  Italucher  Sklavcnaufttand.  II.  S..  fl.  This  keen  observer 
and  critic  considers  Sallust's  history  to  have  been  far  the  most  authentic  and 
complete  of  all.  He  says:  "Am  meisten  zu  bedauern  haben  wir  den  Verlnst 
dee  grossten  Werkes  des  Salustius,  welches  den  Titel  ftihrte  libri  historiarum 
populi  Eomani.  Salustius  war  von  den  romischen  Autoren,  die  eine  Geschichte 
jenes  Krieges  gegeben  haben,  derjenige,  welcher  den  Ereiguissen  selbst  nichfe 
nur  zeitlich  am  nachsten  stand,  sondern  auch  die  meiste  histonsehe  Glaubwur- 
digkeit  hat.  Vermoge  seiner  Stellung  im  Staate  und  seiner  weitreichenden  Ver- 
bindungen  war  er  im  Stands  die  besten  Xacurichten  zu  geben,  and  mi  t  einer  an- 
ziehenden  charakteristischen  Darstelluug  verband  er  Methode  and  Kritik.  Seine- 
Historien  waren  sehr  ausfuhrlich." 

88  ••  Dans  un  combat  desastreux  il  (  Varinius}  perdit  sea  tronpes,  ses  baggages, 
•on  cheval,  et  jusqu'  aux  laisceaux  pretoriens  "  (La  Kousse,  Art,  Spartacus).  tv/a- 
also  Michaud,  Bibliographic  Universeite,  Vol.  40,  pp.  18-21,  wherein  we  are  re- 
minded of  tile  extraordinary  allusion  by  Tacitus  (Germanics,  cap.  8),  of  the  wife 
of  Spartacus  having  been  a  tortune-teller.  She  accompanied  her  husband 
through  his  remarkable  career.  Her  name  wasAurinia  and  Tacitus  supposes 
her  to  have  been  a  German.  .See  Infra,  \  .  313  note  73  Appian,  116.  fin.,  con- 
Arms  thi  sta:  luent  that  Variuius  lost  many  of  his  troops  and  his  colors. 


800  SPARTACUS. 

Spartacus  from  this  time  was  adorned  with  the  regular 
accompaniments  of  a  Roman  pro-consul.  With  a  great 
army  he  overran  the  territory  of  Campania,  ravaging  and 
sacking  Nola,  Nuceria  and  Cora;  then  crossing  the  Sam- 
nian  line  into  the  province  of  Hirpinius  he  seized  what  he 
wanted  from  Coinpsa  on  the  Via  Numicia.  Crossing  the 
Appenines  he  marched  his  army  southward  into  the  rich 
peninsular  division  of  Lucania.  Here  in  the  great  fertile 
plains,  between  the  mountains  and  the  Tarantine  Gulf,  he 
was  absolute  master.  His  arms  extended  still  farther 
southward  over  the  domain  of  Bruttium  in  Magna  Grse- 
cia.69  In  fact  the  destruction  of  the  Varinian  army  had 
placed  the  rebels  in  complete  possession  of  this  whole 
portion  of  Italy.  Here  were  pitched  the  winter  quarters, 
B.  C.  74-73.60 

But  Spartacus  well  knew  that  he  must  not  follow  the 
voluptuous  plan61  of  Hannibal  who,  one  hundred  and  forty 
years  before  at  Capua,  among  the  same  valleys  of  which 
he  was  now  master,  and  after  the  strikingly  similar  bat- 
tle of  Cannse,  had  allowed  his  Carthagenian  braves  to  be 
spoiled  by  luxury  and  wealth.  Fixing  his  quarters  at  or 
not  far  from  the  city  of  Metapontum,61  which  lay  on  the 
Tarantine  gulf  between  the  rivers.  Acalandrus  and  Casu- 
entus,  where  the  alluvial  bottoms  filled  those  parts  of  Italy 
with  harvests  of  the  cereals  and  the  vine,  Spartacus  estab- 

B9  Appian,  Historia  Romano.,  I.  \\1,fin.  "  Ta  5'  opi;  ra  irepi  Qovpiovs  <cal  TTJ» 
frdAif  avrriv  xarf  AafSe,  (cat  xpva-bv  fjifv  7)  apyvpov  Toils  ifiiropovs  tafyepfiv  cxwAue,  teal 
•ceicTJjatfai  rovi  eawrov,  (JLOVOV  Sf  (riSr/pov  KO.\  \a\<bv  fiovovvro  TroAAoC.  icai  rovf 
f<T<pepoi'Tas  oitK  rj&iKovv.  odev  atfpoas  iiATjt  ciiTrop»)<7avTes  eu  irapeaKCvdaavTO.  Kai 
vaijiii'a.  iirl  A«r)Aa<7i'at  e£yf<rav.  'Ptufiai'ott  re  iraAiv  trvvfyexdivrff  if  xe'Pa*  «*p<»* 
TOW  ical  TOT«,  (cat  Aeta;  TroAA^s  yefiovrcri  ewaivjjf&av." 

60  Schambach,  Italischer  Sklavenauf stand.  III,  8.  13.  makes  the  war  to  have 
commenced  in  the  summer  of  B.  C.  74,  which  we  follow,  Idem,  S.  20,  Schambach 
draws  from  the  Vatican  fragments  of  Sallust  as  follows ;  "  Nachdem  Spartacm 
alle  Elemente  der  emporung,  welche  Campanien  darbot,  an  sich  gezogen.  wandte 
er  sich  in  anclere  gegenden.  Leider  gind  wir  uber  die  Route,  die  er  einschlug, 
nicht  genau  unterrichtet ;  doch  dilrfeu  wir  an  der  Hand  der  vatikanischen  Frag- 
mente  dea  Salnst  mit  denen  Orosius  tibereinstimmt,  annehmen,  dass  er  sich  zu- 
nachst  quer  durch  die  Halbinsel  an  die  Kiisten  des  adriatischen  Meeres  wandte, 
von  wo  er  dann  die  Richtnng  nach  SUden  einschlug  nnd  nach  Lukanien  gelangte. 
Wenigstens  berechtigen  uns  die  Fragmente  des  Salust  zu  der  Annahme,  daM 
Varinius,  von  dem  weiterhin  die  Rede  eein  wird,  in  Picennm  den  Aufstandischen 
gegeniiber  gestanden  babe.  Aui  diesen  Marsche  eroberten  sie  Annii  Forum  und 
vielleicht  auch  Avellae.  dessen  Einwohnerschaft  sich  ihnen  wenigstens  znm 
Schutze  ihrer  Mark  entgegenstellte.  Dass  auch  hier  die  Sklaven  ihren  Weg  mit 
Mord  und  Brand  bezeichnet  haben,  iet  wphl  gewiss." 

«!  Plutarch,  Marcus  Crassut,  9-10,  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Or eek  and  Roman  Bio- 
graphy. Art.  Sparbicus.  Sallust,  Fragm.  Hiftoriarum,  III,  idem,Gerlach  ed. ,  p.  254 
Pliny  Nat.  Hut,,  XXXIII.  14. 

«s  Cf.  La  IJoupse,  Dictiannaire  Vnivertd.  according  to  which  the  camp  o< 
Spartacus  was  near  Thorium,  q,  7. 


SPARTACUS  AND    THE    COMMUNES.  301 

lished  himself  for  the  winter,  astonishing  his  historians 
by  an  ordeal  of  tactics  and  a  discretion  which  the  wisest 
and  most  virtuous  might  follow  at  the  present  day. 

As  explained  in  our  account  of  the  Roman  collegia  or 
social  organizations,  all  Italy  was  at  this  period  covered 
with  social  societies  of  protection,  of  resistance  and  for 
convivial  and  burMJUjpurposes.63  To  make  coincidence 
more  striking  to  the  student  of  sociology,  it  may  be  ex- 
plained that  it  was  at  just  this  critical  moment  that  the 
Roman  politicians  who  for  centuries  had  been  invidiously 
watching  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  social  movement 
under  the  law  of  Numa  Pompilius,  were  busily  discussing 
a  measure  for  the  wholesale  suppression  of  the  great  so- 
cial movement,  root  and  branch.  This  law  for  their  sup- 
pression did  not  succeed,  on  account  of  the  powerful  in- 
terference of  the  tribune  Clodius,  until  the  year  58  B.  C. 
But  we  are  not  without  evidence  that  everywhere  the 
unions  of  labor  were  all  this  time  on  the  alert,  expecting 
the  calamity  and  preparing  for  revolt.  These  unions  were 
innumerable.64  Italy  and  Greece  were  honeycombed  with 
them.65  Another  proof  M  that  this  remarkable  conquest 
of  Spartacus  in  the  industrial  centers  of  Italy  actually 
revived  the  organizations  or  turned  their  membership  to 
his  use,  is  seen  from  a  slur  in  Cicero,  the  bitter  hater  of 
everybody  who  was  too  poor  to  live  without  manual  toil. 
Speaking  of  them  he  says:  ....  "  not  only  those  ancient 
labor  unions  have  had  their  right  of  organization  restored 
to  them,  but,  by  one  gladiator,  innumerable  others,  and 
new  ones,  have  been  instituted."  These  words  from  such 
high  authority,  shed  a  blaze  of  light  upon  our  conjecture 
that  Spartacus  was  working  in  collusion  with  the  disaf- 
fected labor  unions  which  had  either  been  suppressed  or 
their  existence  threatened,  as  is  plainly  proved,  at  that 
time.67  Thus  Cicero  becomes  our  most  valuable  and  re- 

ss  Cf.  cbapsxiii.to  xix.,  infra,  on  Trade  and  other  labor  organizations  among 
the  ancients. 

6*  Cicero  who  was  incensed  at  the  success  of  Clodius  whose  eloquence  re- 
stored the  right  of  organization  to  the  workingmeh.  says:  "Collegia  nonea  so- 
lum  qusB  senatus  sustulerat  restituta,  sed  innumerabilia  qusedam  nova  ex  omni 
Iffice  Urbis  ac  servitio  concitata.''  Cic.  In  Pisonem,  4, 9. 

65  "L.  Julio  C.  Mario  Cos?,  quos  et  ipsi  Cicero  memoravit  SCto  collegia  sub- 
lata  eunt,"    Cf.  Mommsen,  De.  Collegiis  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum,  p.  73. 

66  Cic.,  Pro  Sesto,  25,  55.  "IH  collegia  non  inodo  ilia  vetera  restiturentur  sed 
ab  uno  gladiatore  innumerabilia  allia  nova  constituerenter. "    This  inimitable 
satire,  was,  in  all  probability  flung  at  Spartacus  who  had  then  been  dead  only  & 
few  years. 


302  SPARTACUS. 

liable  historian  by  his  utterances  at  the  bar,  in  the  senate 
and  his  epistles.  We  must  make  the  importance  of  this 
matter  excuse  prolixity  and  repetition.  Speaking  of  these 
very  times  but  apparently  not  suspecting  the  extraordi- 
nary concatenation  of  circumstances  which  we  use  in  evi- 
dence of  our  conjecture,  the  great  archaeologist  Momm- 
sen, explicitly  states,  concerning  the  ancient  conspiracy 
laws  of  this  period  which  we  conjecture  contributed  much 
to  the  so-called  servile  wars,  that  they  were  of  two  sorts. 
"  Thus  I  have  two  points  to  note  here:  In  the  first,  I  do 
not  think  that  the  Clodian  trade  unions  contained  slaves 
as  members ;  for  I  think  the  pure  trade  organization  of 
skilled  workmen  did  not  admit  slaves.  They  were  socie- 
iies  for  religious  purposes.68  Then  the  law  ef  Clodius 
must  be  looked  upon  as  touching  only  the  city  of  Rome; 
as  Cicero  says:  'ex  urbis  faece' — out  of  the  slums  of  the 
city  of  Rome.  It  was  of  such  that  Clodius  would  con- 
scribe  and  classify.  The  fact  is,  innumerable  unions  of 
the  servile  race,  as  their  relics  show,  were  scattered  over 
all  Italy,  derived  from  ancient  times,  under  the  protection 
of  the  provincial  cities."69 

We  are  told  that  the  young  general  after  fixing  his 
quarters  snugly  for  the  winter,  instituted  a  rigorous  drill 
of  his  troops.  According  to  Pliny  he  denied  them  the 
use  of  gold  and  silver  lest  they  should  become  demoral- 
ized by  handling  these  vitiating  treasures.70 

One  thing  is  certain  during  his  sojourn  in  Lucania:  he 
set  all  the  slaves  free  and  declared  such  work  to  be  his 
mission.71  He  also  garrisoned  the  cities,  although  it  is 
claimed  that  some  of  them  he  plundered.  He  committed 
no  acts  of  brutality.  He  forced  his  soldiers  to  abstain 
from  intemperance.74  He  was  humane  to  his  prisoners. 

•*  See  Ascon,  L.  C.,  speaking  of  Clodius:  "  De  collegiis  restituendis  novisque 
Institnendis  quse  ait  ex  servitiorum  fsece  constituta." 

68  Here  Mommsen  is  mistaken,  and  he  later  on  admits  that  they  used  relig- 
ion as  a  cloak  to  screen  them  from  the  rigid  laws. 

w  Mommsen,  De  Collegiis  et  Solalicils  Romanorum,  pp.  77-78.  The  text  is  as 
follows ;  "Qua  ratione  conscriptio  instituta  sit  et  ad  qnaenam  collegia  haec  lex 
maxime  pertinuerit,  iam  exposui.  Itaque  duo  tantum  habeo  adhuc  adnot;u>d:i ; 
primum  cum  servi  in  collegiis  Clodianis  essent,  non  esse  cogitandum  de  eolle^iis 
opiflcum,  quae  servos  admisisse  non  arbitror,  sed  de  sacris  tantum;  deinde 
Clodii  legem  ad  Urbem  tantum  spectavisse,  cum  Cicero  collegia  et  ex  urbis  faece 
constituta  dicat  et  Clodium  in  foro  conscripsisse  et  decuriavisse." 

70  "  Quibus  deliciis  venennt  tarn  aurea  quam  aurata,  cum  sciamus  interdixisse 
castris  snis  Spartacum,  ne  quis  aurum  haberet  aut  argentum.  Tanto  i'uit  plus 
animi  fugitivis  nostris."  Pliny,  Nat,  Hist.  XXXIII.  14. 

71  Cf.  International  Encyclopaedia,  Art.  Spartacus. 


FAITHFUL   WIFE   OF  SPARTACUS.       30$ 

For  once  we  have  a  record  of  a  skillful  soldier,  a  loving 
husband,  a  humble  workingman  and  a  gentleman. 

We  are  in  possession  of  several  very  reliable  evidences 
that  Spartacus  was  married  and  that  his  wife  shared  his 
prison  and  military  life.  Plutarch  is  our  authority  for 
the  first  and  Cornelius  Tacitus  for  the  latter.  Not  only 
was  she  faithful  to  him  but  she  certainly  became  a  cele- 
brated pattern  of  fidelity,  making  herself  by  deeds  of  a 
true  heroine,  an  object  of  praise  to  so  great  an  extent 
that  Tacitus  holds  her  up  as  an  example  of  the  heroic 
character  of  German  women.  Her  name  was  Varinia.71 
"  The  most  terrible  guerilla  chieftain  recorded  in  history 
-was  unstained  by  the  vices  of  his  conquerors."  74 

Spartacus  had  among  his  men,  a  large  number  of 
skilled  workmen  who  belonged  to  unions.  Among  them 
were  members  of  the  Fabricenses,™  armor  makers ;  of  the 
Castrensiarii,  sutlers  who  took  contracts  under  the  old 
rule  of  Numa  to  supply  the  soldiers  with  provisions ;  fabri, 
workers  in  hard  metals ;  caligularii,  soldiers'  boot  makers 
or  army  cobblers  and  many  other  mechanics  whom  he  en- 
gaged and  employed  in  the  manufacture  of  arms  and 
other  details  of  supplying  his  army.  There  was  the  great 
order  of  the  Vectigalarii"'6  which  had  been  created  by 
Nurna,  upheld  by  the  Twelve  Tables,  and  for  500  years 
employed  by  the  Roman  government  and  all  the  Muni- 
cipia  of  Italy  as  collectors  of  the  revenues  from  the  in- 
comes of  the  public  domain,  but  which  had  lost  their  em- 
ployment through  the  usurpation  of  the  ager  publicus  by 
land  monopolists  and  their  system  of  slave  labor. 

72  Plutarch,  Marcus  C'rassus,  (Langhorne,)  says:  "But  they  (meaning  the  ob- 
stinate slaves  against  the  orders  of  Spartacus)  relying  upon  their  numbers,  and 
elated  with  success,  would  not  listen  to  his  proposal.    Instead  of  that,  they  laid 
Italy  waste  as  they  traversed  it." 

73  Tacitus,  Germanics,  8.     "Memoriae  proditur  quasdam  acies  inclinatas  iam 
et  labantes  a  feminis  restitutes  constantia  precum  et  objectn  pectorum  et  mon- 
strata  comminus  captivitate,  quam  longe  impatientins  f  eminarum  suarum  nomine 
timent,  adeo  nt  efflcacius  obligentur  animi  civitatum,  quibns  inter  obsides  pnel- 
lae  quoque  nobiles  imperantur  inesse  quin  etiam  sanctum  aliquid  et  providum 
putant,  nee  ant  consilla  earnm  aspernantnr  aut  responsa  neglegunt.  vidimus  sub 
divo  Vespasiano  Veledam  diu  apud  plerosque  nummis  loco  nabitam.  sed  et  olim 
Anriniam  et  compluris  alias  venerati  sunt,  non  adnlatione,  neque  tamquam 
facerent  deas."     It  is  said  that  this  "Aurinia  "  was  the  wife  of  Spartacns. 

14  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Roman  Biography,  Art.  Spartacus. 

78  Orell.,  Inscriptionem  Latinarum  Collectio,  Nos.  4,079,  4,083,  and  infra  Arm- 
ortrs,  chapter  XV.  pp.  372-88,  Trade  unions.  There  are  many  inscriptions  show- 
ing that  the  blacksmiths,  armorers  and  other  iron  and  metal  workers  existed  at 
that  time  in  lower  Italy,  under  the  collegia  or  trade  organizations. 

76  OrelL,  Inscr,  Lat  Collectio,  Vol.  II.  of  Colleaia,  Corpora,  Sodalicia  et  cet,  pp. 
"-27  '24tt.  Also  index,  Vol.  III. 


301  SPARTACUS. 

These  he  furnished  with  work  and  wages,  by  sending- 
them  en  revanche,  to  collect  from  the  rich  who  had  usurped 
the  lands,  the  provisions  and  money  for  his  army  and  its 
expenses.  Thus  Spartacus,  in  the  granary  of  Italy  be- 
came the  master  workman  of  all  the  secret  unions  of 
trades  and  laborers;  and  we  have  no  evidence  disprov- 
ing the  immense  popularity  to  which  he  unquestionably 
arose  among  the  wage  earners. 

The  army  by  this  time,  which  must  have  been  the  early 
spring  of  B.  C.  73,  was  swollen  to  100,000 "  men,  armed 
and  well  equipped,  in  readiness  to  battle  with  the  mighti- 
est force  Rome  could  muster.  With  this  splendid  force 
he  now  meditated  a  daring  attempt  on  Rome. 

Bat  one  great  misfortune  now  began  insidiously  to  ex- 
hibit itself.  His  army,  especially  that  division  of  the 
Gauls  under  Crixus,  his  hitherto  faithful  lieutenant,  began 
to  show  signs  of  jealousy.  Of  all  the  fratricidal  passions 
that  curse  and  wither  the  hopes  and  career  of  the  organ- 
izations of  labor,  jealousy  is  the  most  venomous  and 
deadly.  Born  of  the  human  spirit,  it  runs  in  lurid  juices 
as  of  the  cobra's  fangs,  and  strikes  death  under  cover  of 
fascination.  "With  the  adder's  blindness  it  envenoms  the 
atmosphere  by  puffs,  mistaken  for  zephyrs  and  balm,  and 
to  the  innocent  like  Spartacus  it  throttles  the  spirit  with 
the  dark  moral  shadows  of  doom. 

Had  this  insidious  spectre  not  appeared,  the  army  of 
the  gladiators  and  workingmen  might  perhaps  have  suc- 
ceeded, to  some  extent,  in  a  desperate  march  on  Rome 
and  thereby — although  its  conquest  was  out  of  the  ques- 
tion— some  wise  negotiation  might  have  succeeded  in 
much  permanent  good  to  the  proletaries.  But  the  exact 
opposite  was  in  the  end  the  result  The  plan  of  this 
campaign  was  not  carried  out. 

The  camp  at  Metapontum  was  constantly  visited  by 

*7Cf.  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Roman  Biography,  Art.  Spartacm;  Schamhach,  Der 
Italische  Sklavmaufstand.  Appian  makes  it  to  have  beenl20,000;  and  Spartacus 
seriously  contemplated  an  invasion  of  Rome,  he  says,  cap.  117,  lib.  I :  "  O  &e 

SffapTo/co?  TptaKOfft'ou?  'Pia^aiiav  aixfxaAioTOus  evaytVas  Kpi£<j>,  &i$eica  javpia<ri 
ire^iov  es  'Pw/irji'  qireiycro,  TO.  axpri^ra  riav  (TKeviav  KaraKouo-ay  /cat  TOWS  aixjuaAuJTovs 
wavTas  avt\(av  KO.I  €7ri<r$afas  TO.  vjro£u'yia,  'iva  KOU$OS  eirj-  airo;uoAioi>  re  Tro\\wv 
ai'.'Tco  vpoaiovriav  oiiSiva  irpoaiero.  «ai  riv  inrarwv  avrov  autjis  irepl  TTJV  IIiKiji/iTioa 
yr/v  vwo<TTa.vr<av,  /tieyas  ayiav  «T«pos  oSf  yiyverai,  Kal  /uteyaAij  »cai  Tore  ^<r<ra  'Pa>juatio>'." 

This  was  after  the  battle  of  Garganos  and  the  death  of  Crixus.  See  infra.  So 
Julius  Obsequens,  vide  Lycosthens,  De  ProdigHs,  118 :  "Annortim  horrendo  clam- 
ore''  (from  Capua)  "  centum  millia  homiuum  consuinpta  Itaiico  civilique  bello 
relate  est." 


MODESTY  OF  HIS  AMBITIONS.  805 

merchants  who  purchased  brass  and  iron  and  other  goods 
on  a  large  scale.  We  are  told  that  it  presented  the  spec- 
tacle of  a  great  fair. 

Spring  came  and  it  was  learned  that  three  consular 
armies,  fully  equipped,  were  on  their  way  to  meet  the 
forces  of  the  rebels ;  and  Spartacus  took  up  his  line  of 
march  northward,  keeping  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic. 
The  object  of  this  movement  M'as  to  reach  the  Alps,  cross 
them  and  disperse  the  army  at  the  point  where  the  Gauls 
might  return  in  safety  to  their  homes  to  the  northward 
and  the  Thracians  might  take  to  the  right  and  thus  reach 
their  homes  in  Thrace.78  It  appears  that  Crixus  and 
GEnomans  had  remained  with  Spartacus  at  the  winter 
quarters  but  that  there  was  a  quarrel.  The  evidences 

w  No  writer  disagrees  from  the  main  statement  that  the  central  and  longing 
Idea  of  Spartacus  was  to  reach  hie  native  home  and  again  enjoy  the  occupations 
of  peace  Plutarch,  Marcus  Crassus,  9.  says  :  "  By  this  time  he  f  Spartacns)  waa 
become  great  and  formidable.  Nevertheless  his  views  were  moderate.  He  had  too 
much  understanding  to  hope  the  conquest  of  the  Romans,  and  therefore  led  his 
an:  y  to  the  Alps,  with  an  intention  to  cross  them,  and  then  dismiss  his  troopg, 
thai  V-iey  might  retire  to  their  respective  countries,  some  to  Thrace  and  some  to 
Gaul."  Granier,  next  to  Florus  and  the  English  Encyclopaedists,  the  most  mer- 
ciless of  the  commentators,  says :  Histoire.  des  domes  Ouvrieres  ft  des  Classes  Bour- 
geoises: "  Spartacus,  qui  etait  un  homme  dont  le  cceurvalait  miens  que  la  condi- 
tion, n'avait  qu'nne  idee;  il  von  lait  qu'on  t'ranchit  les  Alpes,  qu'on  gagnat  les 
Gaules,  et  qu'une  fois  la,  chacun  reprit  lechemin  de  son  pays.  La  strategic  des 
consols  et  la  mntinerie  de  ses  compagnons  I'empScherent  de  realiser  eon  projet. 
Schambach  defends  Spartacus  against  the  generally  accepted  libels  and  gland- 
ers afloat  in  Rome  and  which  acted  as  a  palliative  subduing  the  galling  fact  that 
the  haushty  nation  was  humbled  by  a  low-lived  gladiator:  "  Halt  es  cloch  Florns 
fur  nothie  sich  mit  den  Worten  'magnitude  cladium  facit,  nt  ineminerimus  '  zu 
entschnldigen,  ale  er  den  Namen  des  Anfuhrers  in  einem  der  sicilischen  Auf- 
Btande  anfuhrt!  Aber  mit  der  ansicht,  dt*  Mann  einfach  todt  zu  schweigen, 
begniigte  man  eich  nicht ;  man  befleckte  sein  Andenken  dnrch  erfnndene  Ver- 
brechen  nnd  machte  seinen  Namen  zn  einem  Schimpfworte  nnd  t-elbst  Manner 
wie  Cicero  nnd  der  altere  Plinins  habeu  sich  Ton  den  gtimmen  des  grossen  liauf- 
ens  hierin  nicht  zu  emancipiren  vermocht.  Une,  die  wir  keinen  Grund  haben, 
Spartacus  als  grimmigen  Feind  zu  verabscheuen,  lir.gt  die  Verpilichtung  ob, 
Seine  Person  in  das  richtige  Licht  zu  stelltn  und  getren  unverdienten  Tadel  zu 
vertheidigen,"  (Schambach,  Der  Italische  Sklavenauf stand,  S.  15,  Dr  Drumann 
in  Vol.  IV.  S.  74,  sq.  of  his  great  History  of  Rome  (Romisrhe  Geschiclilej  gives 
Spartacus  this  just  tribute :  "DieNatur  hatte  ihn  zum  Helden  und  Herrscher 
geschaffen,  dnrch  klugheit,  Muth.  Freiheitsliebe  und  Massiguns;  rattle  er  iiber 
seine  Gefa'hrten  hervor ;  er  brachte  das  allmachtige  Rom  zum  Zittern  alb  er  die 
Ketten  zerbrach,  nnd  begehrte  auch  jetzt  nichts,  als  irei  zu  sein  :  die  Grnusam- 
keiten  seiner  zugellosen  Schaaren  kommen nicht  auf  seine  Rechnuug,  sofern  «io 
nicht  gegen  die  Unterdriicker  gerichtet  waren:  nnr  gejjen  die  Romer.  in  deren 
Spielen  cr  sich  nnd  die  Menschheit  entehrt  filhlte,  die  ihm  nicht  einmal  die 
Flucht  gestatteten,  ihn  und  die  TJebri^en  einzufangen  sue.". ten.  nm  sie  an  das 
Krenz  zu  nageln,  kannte  er  kein  Erbarmen.  Ancti  auf  einer  Hiihe,  wo  Alles  um 
ihn  her  den  bchwindel  beflel,  blieb  er  besonnen  ;  er  wollta  Rom  nicht  zer^toren, 
weil  er  nichts  Unmogliches  wollte:  die  Vorhersagnngen  seiner  thrakischen  Gattin 
tiber  die  ihm  beschiedene  Grosse  verblendeten  ihn  nicht;  aber  die  i-klaven  ver- 
wirrten  nnd  vereitelten  seinen  Plan  "  The  inquisitive  student  of  Spartacus  may 
al>o  consult  a  fragment  of  Varro,  Charis.  I.  p.  108:  "Spartaco  innocente  con- 
jecto  ad  gladinm."  American  Encyclopaedia,  Vol.  XIV.  p.  829.  acknowledges 
that:  "His  own  desire  was  to  secure  tne  freedom  of  the  slaves  by  taking  them 
beyond  the  Alpa ;  but  they,  eager  for  plunder,  refused  to  leave  Italy. " 


306  8PASTA.CU& 

also  tend  to  prove  that  Crixus  and  a  large  detachment  of 
the  Gauls  separated  from  the  main  army  on  the  march 
northward.  CEnomans  also  had  a  falling  out;  for  it 
seems  he  undertook  an  expedition  to  the  westward  of  the 
main  army  under  Spartacus  on  the  march  through  Pice- 
num  near  the  Adriatic  Sea.  This  expedition  of  (Enomaus 
was  undertaken  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  Spartacus  and 
to  gratify  a  desire  for  plunder.  This  lieutenant  was  met 
by  Gellius  "  commanding  one  of  the  three  consular  arm- 
ies sent  out  by  the  Romans,  and  in  the  battle  which  fol- 
lowed, he  was  killed,  his  army  routed  and  those  soldiers 
who  escaped  were  glad  to  get  safely  back  to  then1  general- 
in-chiei'  who  never  ventured  a  battle  without  knowing 
beforehand  that  he  had  some  chances  in  his  favor. 

But  Crixus  who  was  weak  enough  to  be  jealous  in  such 
a  dangerous  emergency  was  too  weak  to  be  victorious 
over  the  Eomans.  He  rashly  ventured  a  battle  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Garganus  in  Picenum,  with  his  large  de- 
tachment of  the  army,  amounting  to  35,000  men.80  It  is 
likely  that  he  was  drawn  into  an  ambuscade  by  Arrius 
who  commanded  the  third  consular  army  of  the  Romans. 
Crixus  in  his  speech  to  the  soldiers  before  the  battle 
braced  his  men  with  assurance  that  it  was  "  better  to  die 
manfully  in  the  attempt  of  freedom  than  to  be  butchered 

"»  Orosius,  Historiarum  Adversus  Paganos  Libri,V.  "(Enomans  enim  jam 
superiors  belio  fuerat  occisus."  Schambach,  Itali&cher  Sklavenaufstand,  S.  19, 
acknowledges  the  obscurity  in  which  the  facts  regarding  this  lieutenant  of  Spar- 
tacus  are  enveloped  :  "  Jener  CEnomaus  muss  bald  eefaflen  sein ;  Crixus,  der  ala 
der  erste  nach  .Spartacus  erpcheint,  epielte  seine  Rolle  lunger." 


virarof  TrpoAaScuv  exuiAve  Tijs  <£vy7Js,  <cai  6  ercpos  i&iutKCv.  b  6e  ec£'  ifarcpov  avruv 
eiri<rTpf<t>6nevos  irapa.  fitpo?  eviiea.  KOI  oi  ntv  <rvv  i^opvjScu  TO  an-b  rovSe  vv(\u>povv" 
Sallust,  Frag,  Historiarum.  We  quote  the  following  fragment  to  snow  the  des- 
perate fighting  of  the  slaves  pre-nmbly  at  this  battle  with  Crixus — "ingre,  tante 
setui  debacchoralur,  nefandnm  in  modum  perverso  vnlnere  et  interduin  lacerum 
corpus  st  mianimum  omittentes,  alii  in  tecta  jaciebant  ignes,  multiqne  ex  loco 
gervi,  qnos  iogeninm  socios  debat,  abdita  a  dominis  aut  ipsos  trahebant  ex  oc- 
culto,  neque  sanctum  aut  nefandum  quicqnam  fnit  irae  barbororum,  and  servili 
ingenio:  qu»  spartacus  nequiens  prohibere,  mnltis  precibns  cumoraret,  celeri- 
tate  nunt, os."  In  the  next  f  ratrment  we  see  the  plans  of  Spartaciis  thwarted  and 
Crixus  on  the  eve  of  his  overthrow  and  death:  "Aliquot  dies  contra  morem  fidu- 
cia  augeri  nostris  csepit,  et  promi  lingua.  Qua  Varinius  contra  spectatam  rem 
incame  motus  npvos  incognitosque  et  aliorum  casibus  percussos  niilites  jam, 
neqac  tarn  magnifice  fumentes  pnelium,  qaam  postulaverant.  .\tqne  illi  certa- 
mini  conscii  inter  se  juxta  seditionem  erant.  Crixo  etpentis  ejnsflem  (jallis  at 
que  Germanie  obviam  ire  et  uitro  oflerre  pugnam  cupientibus  contra  Sparta* 
urn.  ' 


BATTLE  OF  GARGANUS.  DEATH  OF  CRIXUS.  307 

for  a  Roman  holiday."  The  unfortunate  Crixus,  less  dis- 
creet than  intrepid  rushed  into  the  din  of  strife  and  in  a 
furious  battle  which  occupied  the  day  was  slain  and  his 
army  defeated  with  great  loss. 

The  routed  soldiers,  however,  had  one  comfort.  They 
could  go  back  to  their  general  better  qualified  through 
the  lesson,  with  confidence  in  their  sagacious  chieftain 
whom  they  had  deserted.  Even  this  rebuke  did  not  en- 
tirely quell  the  terribly  revolutionary  character  of  his  in- 
subordinate troops. 

Spartacus  now  started  over  the  Appennines  in  forced 
inarches  northward  toward  the  river  Po,  dogged  every 
inch  of  the  route  by  the  large  consular  armies  of  Rome 
under  C.  Cornelius  Lentulus  and  Gellius  Poplicola,  the 
two  consuls  and  Q.  Arrius  the  praetor,  who  commanded 
the  third  consular  army.  But  he  sustained  no  losses. 
Every  time  the  enemy  ventured  a  battle  he  was  sure  to 
be  hacked  and  punished  by  the  terrible  columns  of  the 
now  veteran  proletaries.81 

Spartacus  appears  to  have  bent  every  energy  toward 
making  a  permanent  escape  from  Italy.  In  the  struggle 
to  make  headway,  the  sallies  of  the  enemy  in  flank  and 
rear  were  always  met  by  the  wary  gladiator  with  a  shock 
which  stupefied  and  annihilated  them ;  and  in  this  man- 
ner he  contested  every  attack,  watching  with  a  judicious 
eye  every  movement  of  the  several  Roman  armies,  for  op- 
portunities to  inflict  the  heaviest  blows. 

At  last,  in  one  of  his  wily  manoeuvres  he  succeeded  in 
alluring  Poplicola  and  his  large  army  into  a  place  suita- 
ble, as  he  believed,  to  make  a  general  attack.  We  are  a 
little  undecided  as  to  where  this  bloody  battle  took  place. 
There  are  data  to  the  effect  that  Spartacus  now  had  70, 
000  men  in  solid  column.82  But  most  of  the  great  histor- 
ies being  lost,  the  lesser  writers  of  those  times  perhaps 

81  Flor..  III.  20, 10.    "Inde  jam  consulates  quoque  aggressns,  in  Appenino 
Lenluli  exercitum  percecidit:  apud  Mutinam  Caii  Cassii  castra  delevit." 

82  It  is  probable  that  the  rebel  force  was  still  stronger  than  this ;  for  Appian 
puts  it  at  120,000  while  yet  in  Thuria.    Vallejus  Patercnlus,  however,  seems  to 
carry  the  idea  that  it  was  less  :  "  qnorum  numerus  in  tantum  adolevit  titque  ul- 
timo dimicavcre  acie  XL  millia  hominum  se  Romano  exercitui  opposuerint.'1 
But  his  scholiast  edition  finds  fault  with  these  figures,  as  absurd  and  refers  to 
Eutropius  who  says  60  000.    Orosius  and  Livy,  who  make  the  rebel  lorce  about 
this  time  to  have  been  a  medium  between  12(i,000  (Appian's statement)  and  40. 
000  i  that  of  Vallejus),  concluding  that  the  "  C-"  of  the  latier  author  must  have 
been  changed  in  vicissitudes  of  so  many  ages  into  an  <4L,"  and  thai  it  originally 
read  XC,  millia  or  SO.UUO. 


308  SPARTACUS. 

ashamed  of  what  they  considered  a  humiliation  and  dis- 
grace, rush  over  the  less  prominent  events,  mentioning 
only  in  an  obscure  manner,  certain  points. 

The  tactics  of  Poplicola  were  to  harass  the  flank  while 
Lentulus  kept  his  army  in  the  front  of  Spartacus  who 
took  no  further  notice  of  the  latter  than  to  keep  him  from 
doing  mischief.  When  at  last,  Spartacus  saw  his  oppor- 
tunity, burning  with  a  desire  to  avenge  Crixus,  who  had 
fallen  at  Mt.  Garganus,  he  gave  his  men  the  long  coveted 
order  of  attack. 

A  great  and  bloody  battle  was  fought.  All  day  the  glitter 
of  helmets  and  the  clash  of  swords  told  the  horrid  tale  of 
death.  It  was  a  rencounter  of  Greek  and  Gaul  and  Roman 
— representatives  of  the  bravest  lands  of  ancient  days. 

Phalanx  by  phalanx,  the  proud  army  of  Poplicola  gave 
way  before  the  intrepid  assaults  of  the  laborers.  No 
sooner  did  the  Romans  begin  to  weaken  and  bend  than 
the  carnage  redoubled.  Spartacus  made  good  every  op- 
portunity and  crashed  upon  the  now  broken  columns  of 
his  adversary.  Thousands  of  the  Romans  fell  dead  and 
dying.  A  few  escaped.  Night  brought  the  slaughter  to 
a  sullen  close.81  The  victorious  legions  of  Spartacus  re- 
turned to  their  tents  to  rest.  Large  numbers  of  prisoners 
had  fallen  into  their  hands,  among  whom  were  many 
haughty  Roman  knights.  Spartacus  with  bitter  irony 
soon  afterwards  forced  them  to  fight  as  gladiators  in  the 
funeral  games  which  he  celebrated  with  pomp  to  the 
manes  of  Crixus.86 

Thus  we  have  an  account  of  the  fifth  battle  won  by  this 

w  Floras,  III.  20, 12,  is  greatly  grieved  at  this  humiliation;  "  a  quo  pulsi, 
fugatiqne  (pudet  dicere)  hostes  in  extrema  Italiae  refugerunt." 

84  "  Sur  la  route  il  rencontra  et  ecrasa  deux  armies  consulaires,  deux  autres 
pr6toriennes  et  arriva  enfin  tout  combatant  et  toujours  victoneux  sur  les  rives 
du  Po,  dont  les  eaux  d£bordees  lui  barrerent  le  chemin.'1  La  Rousse,  Art.  Spar- 
tacuf.  Plutarch,  Cratsux,  tr.  Langhorne,  IX.  says:  "  Lentulus,  the  other  con- 
sul, endeavoured  to  surround  Spartacus,  with  his  forces,  which  were  very  con- 
siderable. Spartacus  met  him  fairly  in  the  field,  beat  his  lieutenants,  and 
stripped  them  of  their  baggage."  Scraps  from  the  earliest  and  best  authors  serve 
•where  the  thread  of  the  story  is  lost ;  and  indicate  the  truthfulness  of  the  his- 
tory. Sallust  has  one  as  follows,  which  though  badly  mangled,  seems  to  relate 
to  this  severe  contest:  *  *  *  "  M  or  Trequii  praeter  s  r  ciem  necessarians  baud 
niulto  secus  quam  ierro  noceri  poterat.  At  Varinius,  dum  haec  aguntur  a  fugi- 
tivis,  eegra  parte  militum  autumn!  gravitate,  neque  ex  postrema  fuga,  cum  se- 
vero  edicto  juberentur,  ullis  ad  signa  redeuntibus,  et  qui  relinqni  erant  per 
summa  flgitiadetrectantibiis  militiam.  Quaestorem  suum  C.  Thoraniumex  quo 
praesente  verafacilimenoscerunt,  *  *  *  commiserant,  et  tamen  interim  quum 
volentibus  numero  quatuor." 

8*  Floras,  ni.  20.    '  •  Qui  defunctorum  quoqae  prselio  ducum  funera  imper* 


FIFTH  BATTLE,     RETALIATION.  309 

extraordinary  genius.  The  episode  of  his  avenging  the 
death  of  Crixus  by  forcing  the  proud  Roman  leaders  to 
descend  to  the  debasing  ergastutum  and  meet  in  gladia- 
torial combat  and  with  the  weapons  of  dishonor  they  had 
previously  forced  Crixus  and  Spartacus  to  wear,  bears  at 
once  a  tinge  of  melancholy  and  perhaps  of  gratification 
even  to  the  most  enlarged  minds. 

Not  only  the  consuls  but  also  two  praetorian  armies 
were  completely  routed  by  the  tiger-like  springs  of  Spar- 
tacus M  during  this  phenomenal  march  northward  in  quest 
of  his  boyhood's  home.  It  is  indeed  interesting  to  know 
that  his  wife  accompanied  him  in  his  wanderings. "  There 
seems  to  be  a  simplicity  and  tenderness  which  contrasts 
with  the  magnitude  and  the  ferocity  of  his  adventurers; 
something  unique  and  almost  enchanting  is  felt  as  one 
follows  him  step  by  step  along  his  thorny  path. 

After  routing  and  annihilating  these  praetorian  armies,8* 
•we  next  find  him  face  to  face  with  the  large  army  of  Len- 
tulus  near  the  river  Po. 

Spartacus  seems  now  to  have  assumed  the  character  of 
a  fugitive,  so  desirous  was  he  to  make  his  escape.  Time 
had  been  given  for  the  remnants  of  the  Romans,  shattered 
but  not  destroyed  at  the  battle  with  Poplicola,  to  join  the 
army  of  Lentulus,  now  augmented  to  larger  numbers  than 
any  body  of  troops  Spartacus  had  yet  encountered. 

There  was  a  praetorian,  or  "  third  consular  army  "  men- 
tioned by  Plutarch.  Livy  mentions  Cassius  as  a  pro-con- 
sul and  C.  Manlius  as  the  praetor.69  This  would  imply 
that  two  battles  were  fought  between  the  two  great 
pitched  battles  of  Poplicola  and  of  Lentulus,  the  regular 

toriis  celebravit  exequiis,  captivosque  circa rogum  jnssit  armls  depugnare:  quasi 
plane  expiaturus  omne  prseteritum  dedecus,  si  de  gladiatore  numerator  fuisset" 
So  also  modern  commentaries  ;  See  Smiths  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Bio- 
graphy, Art.  Spartanus,  The  American  Encyclopaedia,  Vol.  XIV.  1867,  page  328, 
makes  no  hesitation  in  placing  this  humiliating  episode  as  an  event  of  the  war, 
"  At  the  head  of  TO. 000  men  he  triumphed  over  two  consular  armies  in  72,  and 
forced  his  Roman  captives  to  fight  as  gladiators  at  the  funeral  games  which  ha 
celebrated." 

«s  See  Pomponius  Mela.  21;  Livy.  Epitomiet,  XCV.  XCV1.  XCVII;  Diod. 
XXXVIII.  21.  Orosius,  V.  24,  25.  Cf.  also  considerable  in  the  writings  of  Cicero, 
and  in  the  various  English  and  German  Encyclopedias;  these  however,  with  few 
exceptions  are  childishly  erroneous,  contradictory  and  lamentably  incomplete. 

87  Plutarch,  Crassus,  where  we  find  this  assurance. 

Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography;  La  Rousse,  Diction- 
aire  Universe!,  Art.  Spartacus,  and  Tacitus,  Germania  8,  where  we  tod  that  her 
name  was  Aurinia. 

s.<  Livy,  Epitom.  XCVI.  "C.  Caasiug  pro-consul  et  Cn.  Manlius  praetor  male 
adversus  Spartacum  puguaverunt." 


310  SPAKTACUS. 

consuls.  Cassius  who  was  praetor  in  the  northern  por- 
tions along  the  Po,  with  a  large  army  of  at  least  10,000 
men,  gave  battle  to  Spartacus  just  before  the  latter  reached 
this  river.  It  was  a  deadly  encounter,  and  though  the 
conflict  raged  with  fierce  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
Romans,  they  were  110  match  for  the  now  invincible  glad- 
iator and  his  veterans  who  gained  one  of  the  most  tellir  T 
triumphs  of  the  war.90  It  was  between  these  two  bloody 
engagements  and  in  this  region  that  Spartacus  spent  the 
winter  of  B.  C.  72-71. 

The  army  of  the  gladiator  now  increased.91  We  should 
be  almost  totally  confounded  without  Livy's  Epitomies  of 
wrecked  history  at  this  juncture  of  the  war,  and  could 
scarcely  proceed.  It  is  through  these  made  clear,  that 
after  the  defeat  of  Cassius  and  his  10,000  near  the  Po,  as 
related  by  Plutarch,  the  really  great  battle  spoken  of, 
where  Spartacus  met  Lentulus  "  fairly,"  was  Livy's  great 
carnage,93  told  in  words  too  plain  to  admit  of  misunder- 
standing.93 Plutarch  says:  "  the  two  consuls  having  con- 
solidated their  troops  in  the  country  of  Picenum,  fell 
upon  Sparlacus  in  full  force.  He,  however,  gave  them 
battle  and  with  great  slaughter  nearly  annihilated  them." 
This  fills  two  missing  data.  We  are  all  along  told  that 
Spartacus,  while  near  the  river  Po,  before  these  "  great 
defeats "  of  the  "  two  consuls  and  their  two  praetorian 
armies,"  was  a  fugitive,  anxiously  striving  with  all  his  mil- 
itary tact,  to  escape  from  Roman  territory.  Now,  how- 
ever, we  have  authors  augmenting  the  army  of  Spartacus.94 
We  find  him  with  a  vast  and  well  drilled,  well  disciplined, 
well  fed  and  highly  elated  army  of  120,000  men. 

A  march  upon  Rome  was  frustrated  by  the  desire  of 
plunder;  although  it  is  stated  that  Spartacus  did  net  dare 
to  make  the  attempt.95 

90  Plutarch,  Crassut,  10.  "  He  (Spartacus)  then  continued  his  route  towards 
the  Alps,  but  was  opposed  by  Cassius,  who  commanded  in  that  part  of  Gaul 
which  lay  about  the  Po,  and  came  against  him  at  the  head  of  10.000  men.  A  bat- 
tle ensued,  in  which  Cassius  was  defeated,  with  great  loss,  and  saved  himself 
not  without  difficulty."  So  Livy,  Epitome  of  liber,  XCV1.  et  supra,  note  90. 

n  Plutarch,  Crassus,  10. 

•*  Livy,  Epitome,  XCVI.  "  Ideirco  duo  consules,  junctis  copiis  in  agro  Piceno 
ei  concurrerunt.  Sed  ilia  (Spartacusi  licet  eas  magna  clade  profligar.set." 

93Schambach,  Italischer  Sklavenaufsland,  S.  8,  concedes  the  scholiast  view. 
IJvy  did  not  write  the  epitomles  to  his  books,  but  thinks  that  they  are  faithful 
to  the  original  contents. 

»«  Livy,  XCVI.  of  Epitamiet,  of  the  lost  books.     Appian,  1. 117. 

M  Livy,  Epitome,  XOYI.    "  Ad  Urbem  ducre  non  est  aus'  8." 


SIXTH  AND    SEVENTH  BATTLES.  311 

This  great  battle  between  Spartacus  and  the  combined 
armies  of  the  two  consuls.  Lentulus  and  Poplicola,  took 
place  a  long  distance  south  of  the  Po,  near  where  Sparta- 
cus had  defeated  the  first  consular  army  under  Poplicola; 
for  it  was  in  the  tenitory  of  Picenum,  nearly  200  miles 
from  the  river.  The  army  of  the  proletaries  was  now 
about  100  miles  northeastward  from  Rome  and  was 
marching  southward.  This  arrangement  of  data  brings 
the  statement  of  Plutarch  in  line  and  clears  up  the  whole 
jumble.  The  story  of  Cassius  and  his  defeated  army  of 
10,000  was  Plui  arch's  battle  of  the  Po.  Spartacus  then 
taking  the  offensive,  marched  southward  into  Picenum, 
where  he  fought  the  great  battle  of  Picenum — the  magna 
cladis  of  Livy. 

Great  consternation  now  prevailed  at  Rome.  The  news 
of  the  disaster  to  Lentulus  and  Poplicola  and  their  splendid 
armies  was  regarded  as  a  calamity.  Indignation  raised 
to  its  highest  pitch  and  was  only  equalled  by  mortifica- 
tion and  shame.  A  gladiator,96  and  slave,  who,  all  his  life- 
time had  been  a  poor  man,  earning  a  scanty  living  by 
manual  toil,  had  combined  audacity  with  genius,  gathered 
the  menial  hordes97  that  worked  the  estates  of  haughty 
landlords  and  in  eight  battles,  at  hand-to-hand  combat 
and  at  the  test  of  strategem,  endurance,  valor  and  prowess 
had  worsted,  overthrown  and  annihilated  the  patrician 
gentry  of  Rome.98 

Lentulus  was  recalled  and  disgraced.  His  humiliation 
has  always  been  a  mystery  to  readers  of  history.  The 
true  light  of  the  affair  has  been  shut  out — so  dark  was 
the  history  of  this  matter  kept  for  ages  from  the  reader's 
mind. 

Spartacus  was  maligned  by  everybody;  and  public  sen- 
timent turned  a  smile  in  his  favor  into  a  heresy  and  in- 
timidated the  favorable  opinions  and  conversation  of  the 
people  as  well  as  blockaded  the  will  and  the  pen  of  his- 
torians. 

Spartacus,  everywhere  victorious  was,  after  the  great 

96  Florus,  III,  20.    "  Tandem  etiam  totis  imperil  viribus  contra  mirtnilliouem 
consurgitur. " 

97  Livy,  Epitome,  XCV.    "  Res  proserse,  et  assolet,  statim  inveiierunt  socios. 
multosque  pastorea,  durum  et  pernix  genus." 

ss  Cicero,  Ad  Atticum,  VJ.  2'2.  "  Cum  Spartaco — duce  fugitivorum,  qui  bel- 
lam  servile  commovit,  et  vel  cum  quingentis  praadonibus  jam  satis  mali  faoere 
potuit." 


812  SPARTACUS. 

battle  in  Picenum,  forced  to  proceed  southward  by  his 
foolish  soldiers  who,  puffed  "  with  success,  were  wanting 
in  obedience  and  could  not  participate  in  the  dream  of 
Spartacus  to  retire  to  the  pastoral  charms  of  his  native 
land.  We  next  find  him  marching  to  Thuria,  with  a  vast 
army  and  great  quantities  of  plunder,  with  the  intention 
of  passing  the  winter  of  72-71,  B.  C.  But  another  victory 
was  yet  to  be  won  before  the  army  could  reach  its  winter 
quarters — the  battle  with  Mummius  in  Picenum."*0 

It  was  now  nearing  the  time  of  the  Roman  Comitiae,  or 
the  assembly  of  Roman  citizens  for  voting  for  new  officers. 
Among  these  officers  consuls  were  to  be  elected.  But  so 
great  was  the  terror  which  Spartacus  had  inspired  that 
no  candidates  were  to  be  found.  This  phenomenon  is  ex- 
plained by  the  fact  that  whoever  should  be  elected  consul 
would  have  to  go  in  person  to  meet  the  dreaded  gladia- 
tor. Finally,  after  much  hesitation,  Marcus  Licinius 
Crassus,  consented  to  be  nominated  and  of  course,  received 
the  full  vote  and  confidence  of  the  people. 

Accordingly,  Crassus,  prepared  for  the  campaign  against 
the  great  guerilla  chieftain  with  eight  full  legions  of 
Roman  soldiers  mustered  for  the  occasion.  But  the  frag- 
ments of  the  defeated  armies  of  Poplicola  and  Lentulus, 
together  with  the  praetorian  forces,  also  shattered  by 
Spartacus,  were  now  returning  to  the  metropolis  in  a 
straggling,  demoralized  condition.  All  these  were  soon 
joined  to  the  new  army  of  Crassus.101 

The  new  confidence  which  this  election  of  Crassus  in- 
spired caused  a  great  number  of  young  Roman  gentry 
to  volunteer,  and  we  may  be  certain  that  the  eight  legions 
were  full.  A  full  Roman  legion  of  that  era  consisted  of 
6,000  men  which  makes  48,000  for  the  new  army  of  eight 
legions. 

99  Cf.  Smith's,  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography. 

100  This  account  is  given  in  Plutarch's  Life  of  Crasms.    Mommsen.  History 
of  Rome,  here  breaks  the  story  of  Spartacus  and  his  victories  into  a  tangle  of  un- 
intelligible data,  although  its  thread  is  seen  to  be  quite  clear,  with  a  little  pains. 

101  Appian,  Historia  Romano,  I,  118:     "  T^JK'TIJS  re  f/v  rjSij   ical  0o/3epbs  avrois  6 
jroAejxo?,  -yeAco/ifi/os  iv   <»p^j;  icai.  KaTaQpOvovfifVOS  cos   novond\iai'.     ripOTedei<T»]S  T« 
trrparriyiav  aAAcov  xeiporovias  o/cros  enei^ev  an-arras,  »cai  TrapjjyyeAAei'  ovSfis,  MeXPl 
Acicu'ios  Kpaoxros',    yevei  <cai  irAovTa>  'Puifiaiiav  5ia<£ai'>js,  avf&e^aro  CTTpcmj-yTjcreu', 
KO.I  Te'Aeerii'  ff  dAAoi?  fi\a.vvev  «TT!  rbv  ^.TrdpraKov ."     Plutarch  says  :  "  No  sooner  were 
the  senate  informed  of  these  miserable  proceedings,  than  they   expressed  the 
greatest  indignation  against  the  consuls,  and  gave  orders  that  they  should  be 
superseded  in  the  command,    Crassus  was  the  person  they  pitched  upon  as  a 
successor,  and  many  of  (he  nobility  served  under  him,  as  volunteers,  as  well  on 
account  of  his  political  influence  and  from  personal  regard." 


NINTH  BATTLE.     MUTINA.  313 

From  the  start,  there  must  have  been  at  least  100,000 
men  sent  out  under  Crassus  against  the  rebels,  which 
force  kept  constantly  increasing  to  the  end. 

Returning  to  Spartacus,  we  find  evidence102  that  while 
at  the  zenith  of  his  popularity  between  the  Po — which  he 
did  not  cross — and  Picenum,  he  offered  inducements  to 
all  who  would  cast  off  the  yoke  of  despotism,  to  join. 
That  the  slaves  took  the  offer  of  freedom  is  evident  from 
bhe  number,  which  commentators  venture  to  put  at  120- 
000,  and  which  we  positively  know  soon  greatly  augmented. 
Many  of  the  higher  classes  spurned  offers  to  co-operate 
because  they  "  disdained  to  join  slaves; "  although  they 
hated  the  Romans.103 

When  Crassus  arrived  in  Cis-Alpine  Gaul,  near  the  city 
of  Mutina,  where  the  army  of  Spartacus  lay,  he  studied 
closely  the  traits  of  his  antagonist  and  concluded  to  adopt 
the  tactics  of  Eabius  who  had  previously  been  successful 
over  Hannibal,  by  worrying  him  and  not  giving  battle. 
After  harassing  Spartacus  in  rear  and  flank  for  some 
time  he  sent  the  pro-consul,  C.  Cassius  Longinus,  around 
on  the  other  side  with  orders  to  be  watchful  and  goad 
the  enemy,  without  hazarding  an  engagement;  but  the 
fox-witted  gladiator,  with  apparent  indifference,  allured 
this  Roman  into  an  idea  that  he  could  safely  go  beyond 
his  orders,  and  attack  a  wing  of  the  workingmen  who 
were  in  reality,  impatient  for  the  fray. 

At  a  weak  moment,  least  suspected  and  least  watched, 
Spartacus  gave  the  welcome  order  of  battle.  The  shout 
went  up  and  with  it  came  the  force  of  the  onset.  Cassius 
was  crushed  by  the  unexpected  blow  and  completely 
routed.  The  field  of  Mutina  covered  with  the  slain,  re- 
mained with  the  workingmen. 

Spartacus,  slowly  continuing  his  march  southward,  har- 
assed and  tormented  by  Crassus  who  was  too  good  a  com- 
mander to  venture  a  general  engagement,  studied  every 
opportunity  to  catch  the  Roman  at  a  weak  point.104  Op- 

102  C£.  Larousse,  Dictionadrc  Universd,  Art.  Spartacus,  based  on  the  remarks 
of  Plutarch. 

la 


D11UU1U    UO   •CFMI    LU    pftfrB    ll^t'Il    tlldll,    lull   UUt    UUJ.  1111C1O1H. 

others  who  have  taken  great  pains  to  get  the  kernel  of  the  theme. 

104  "  Le  general  Komain  se  borna  de  couvrir  le  Latium,  n'  osant  hasarder 
battaille  centre  le  terrible  gladiateur  et  se  contenta  &  le  harceler  et  le  faire  mis- 
erable, par  ces  lieutenants,  invariablement  battus  quand  ils  avaient  la  t6merit6 


314  SPARTACUS. 

portunity  soon  came.  The  propraetor,  Cn.  Manlius,  was 
caught  at  an  unguarded  moment  and  in  a  terribly  bloody 
conflict  of  which  we  have  only  a  sullen  and  lugubrious 
mention  by  historians,  was  torn  to  atoms  by  the  charge 
of  a  heavy  detachment  of  Spartacus. 

The  condition  of  the  Roman  army  was  now  that  of  ter- 
ror. After  the  defeat  of  Cassius  at  the  city  of  Mutina 
and  of  Manlius  at  a  point  southward,  we  find  Spartacus, 
still  harassed  by  Crassus,  in  the  rich  valleys  of  Picenum, 
the  scenes  of  the  next  and  ninth  battle  in  which  the  glad- 
iator chieftain  was  conqueror.  Crassus  posted  himself 
here,  in  advance  of  the  workingmen,  for  the  purpose  of 
intercepting  their  march  southward. 

Mummius,  one  of  the  most  trustworthy  lieutenants  of 
Crasus,  was  sent  round  to  the  flank  of  the  enemy,  with  or- 
ders to  continue  strategical  manoeuvres;  and  was  strictly 
charged  to  follow  him,  but  not  to  hazard  a  battle.  Mum- 
mius had  more  courage  and  conceit  than  discretion  or 
obedience.  He  proved  to  be  precisely  the  man  whom  Spar- 
tacus wanted.  The  foxy  gladiator  now  dallied  with  ruse 
and  incantation  and  finally  decoyed  the  whole  force,  con- 
sisting of  12,000  men  into  an  assailable  point.  This  whole 
manoeuvre  seems  to  have  been  deeply  laid  inasmuch  as  it 
contained  an  admixture  of  flattery.  At  any  rate,  how- 
ever ambidextrous  the  incentive,  the  decoy  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  ambition  on  the  other,  prevailed. 

Just  when  Mummius  believed  he  was  in  the  act  of  rid- 
ding his  country  of  a  loathsome  foe,  a  wild  war-whoop  of 
the  mirmillions  burst  out  along  the  lines.  Spartacus  at 
the  enemy's  vulnerable  points  gave  the  order  of  attack. 
This  time  it  was  many  against  few.  Mummius  was  over- 
slaughed. "  His  whole  army  completely  routed.  Many 
were  killed  upon  the  battle  field.  Others  terrified,  cast 
away  their  arms  and  saved  their  lives  by  flight." 106 

Again  the  arms  of  Spartacus  were  victorious.  Mum- 
mius was  annihilated.107  Disaster  again  convulsed  the 
segis  of  slaveholding,  degenerate  Rome,  whose  haughty 
men,  many  of  whom  owned  at  that  moment  from  1,000  to 

de  llvrer  combat."    La  Ronsse,  Dictionaire  Universel.  Art.  Spartacus. 
,     106  Plutarch,  Idem;  Appiau  ;  Mommsen  and  some  of  the  Encyclopedias. 

107  Cf.  International  Encyclopedia,  Art.  Spartacus.  Although  we  give  reference 
to  original  authority  there  is  a  variety  oi  readings  and  of  opinions ;  and  we  there- 
fore cite  contemporaneous  writers  and  recommend  them  to  the  reader. 


TENTH  BATTLE.     MUMM1US  RUINED.        315 

10,000  slaves  each,  were  freshly  reminded  by  every  victory 
of  Spartacus,  of  the  doom  of  their  crumbling  institution, 
sacred,  as  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  paganism  they  wor- 
shiped for  a  religion. 

Crassus  had  cause  to  be  severe.  Plutarch  adds  that : 
u  He  severely  reprimanded  Mummius  who  had  escaped 
unhurt.  He  armed  the  few  survivors  anew,  insisting  upon 
their  giving  bond  of  fidelity  to  the  new  arms  given  them. 
He  took  500  of  the  most  cowardly,  divided  them  into  50 
platoons  and  these  into  decades,  one  of  whom  was  by 
lot,  put  to  death;  in  this  way  recalling  an  ancient  military 
usage  of  punishment.  This  kind  of  punishment  in  fact, 
is  the  mark  of  the  greatest  infamy ;  for  as  the  execution 
is  public,  in  sight  of  the  whole  army,  circumstances  that 
are  awful  and  affecting  follow."108  But  this  horrible 
chastisement  came  late.  Spartacus  had  again  been  vic- 
torious. 

But  two  causes  now  set  in  to  cast  shadows  over  the 
glory  of  the  conquering  gladiator.  His  own  ignorant 
and  foolish  soldiers  began  again  to  show  signs  of  insub- 
ordination, elated  by  their  never  failing  successes.  They 
wanted  to  plunder  and  feast  upon  the  fat  of  the  land; 
and  while  they  were  actually  becoming  demoralizad  and 
dissolute  in  their  extraordinary  experience  of  victory, 
their  new  enemy  Crassus  was  growing  wiser  and  surer 
in  his  harrowing  experience  of  defeat.  These  two  causes 
combined  to  bring  the  terrible  lion  to  his  end. 

Crassus,  after  this  ferocious  specimen  of  the  cruelty  of 
war,  attacked  Spartacus,  and  drove  him  to  the  sea.109  But 

IDS  Plutarch,  idem;  Appian,  Historia  Bnmana,  1. 118.  "  Kat  ruv&i  niv  a^i-cxa 
JiaxArjpiocra?,  OK  TjoAAaicij  ijTrir/iei-ajv,  eiri  &ava.T<p  fxepof  Jc'jcaTOP  Sic<j>deipfi>.  Oi  4' 
•t>X  OUTO)  voni£ov<riv,  aAAd  irairi  Tci  <rrpar<a  a'Vfi/SaAopTa  Atai  Tov&f,  xal  r)TTT\tJ.tvovj 
wavTiav  JiaxATjpaxrai  TO  SeKarov,  xa.1  ape Aetv  «  TtTpaxi<rx'Aiou$,  ovSfv  Sta.  TO  trAijiJor 
cyioiacrai'TO.  oiroTc'pio?  5'  en-paff,  iio/3epuJTepo?  OIJTCKS  TTJ?  riav  iroAcniup  7JTT7)9  <iayfis 
auriita  /uupi'wv  'S.ira.pTcuffitav  (<(>'  cavruc  TTOV  <rTpa.roirt&ev6vTu>t>  (tcparei,  <al  Svo  avriav 
pipy  Ko.Ta.Ka.vtav  ew"  aiirbi'  ^Aauve  TOV  'S.ira.pTa.KOv  wbv  icaTa<J)poi'>)<r6t."  Sallust,  Hit- 
toriarum  PopuH  Romani,  libri.  Becenaio  of  Anton.  Thysius,  old  Lngdnnum  edi- 
tion, p.  502,  has  a  sadly  mutilated  scrap;  "  Sorte  ductoe  fusti  necat:"  and  the 
learned  editor  in  a  note  explains  as  follows :  "Sorte  ductosfusli  necat,  Pnto  legen- 
dam,  ednctos,  accipiendumq;  de  severa  ac  militari  Crassi  discipUna,  qua  idem 
In  tugitoribus  coercendis  usus,  ex  duabus  Mummianis  Legionibus  contra edictnm 
Imperatoris  in  hostem  (Spartacum)  pugnare  ansis,  profligatisque ;  quingenpit 
primos,  unde  initium  iBgae  tactum  fuerat,  sorte  eductos  decimari  praacetos. 
Quod  vetus  supplicii  genus  intennortuum,  ac  desitom  jampridem,  postliminio 
In  castra  Eomana  reductum  a  Crasso."  According  to  Sallust  they  were  killed 
with  clubs. 

109  Appian.  I.  118,  fill:  "  Nuojffa?  Si  <cal  Tov&t  Aa^n-paif  eSiiaKt  <f>evyovT&  eirl 
TTJK  i^aAaacraf  <us  &ia.Tr\ev(rovn(vov  e?  2t»c<Aiav,  Kai  KO.TaXa.B!av  oirfTaopeve  K<u. 
atrrrei'xi^*  ical  aa-taraupov."  Monimsca,  History  of  Rome,  Vol.  IV.  p.  106. 


316  SPARTACUS. 

this  signal  victory  mentioned  by  Appian,  is  denied  by 
Plutarch  in  the  following  terms:  "  After  thus  chastising 
his  men,  he  (Crassus)  led  them  against  the  enemy.  But 
gpartacus  turned  back  and  retired  through  Lucania  to 
the  sea."  no 

Spartacus  marched  his  army  southward  along  the  Ad- 
riatic to  embark  for  Sicily  across  the  straits  of  Messina. 
There  is  strong  circumstantial  evidence  that  privateers  of 
the  Mediterranean  assisted  Spartacus;  and  if  we  judge  from 
this  point  of  view,  a  new  light  is  thrown  upon  the  history 
of  his  career.  No  written  records,  however,  exist  prov- 
ing this,  and  for  want  of  it  we  follow  the  story  as  it  is  told. 

If  the  pirates,  so-called,  refused  to  help  him,  thus  clearly 
working  in  the  interest  of  Rome,  as  Mommsen  suggests, 
why  should  Rome  have  immediately  instituted  a  man-hunt 
against  them  ?  Tacitus  has  some  remarks  favoring  our 
theory  that  the  pirates  were  faithful  to  Spartacus.  An- 
other potent  question  is,  how  did  the  gladiator  get  the 
great  army  of  300,000  men  ?  Did  not  the  privateers  ship 
them  over  from  Sicily  ?  We  shall  refer  to  these  things 
later. 

This  new  move  of  Spartacus  to  reach  Sicily  is  called  by 
some,  his  last  stroke  of  genius.  It  was  an  original  one. 
There  had  been,  some  27  years  before,  a  great  rebellion 
of  the  slaves  in  Sicily  m  and  at  this  moment,  when  Spar- 
tacus approached  that  fair  isle — the  granary  of  Rome — 
it  was  suffering  from  the  most  inhuman  exactions,  by  or- 
der of  Verres,  the  insatiate  and  avaricious  despoiler,  whose 
greedy  havoc  was  soon  afterwards  opposed  by  Cicero. 
The  slaves  and  property  owners  alike,  were  goaded  by 
this  man's  rapacity  to  the  verge  of  rebellion  against  Rome. 
Had  Spartacus  succeeded  in  crossing  safely  with  his  army 
the  chances  are  that  the  goaded  people  would  have  gladly 

"«  Plutarch,  Lift  of  Crassus. 

111  See  chapter  xi  supra.  The  strange  words  of  Cornelius  Tacitus,  Annaliwm, 
liber,  XV.  cap.  46 ;  referring  to  Spartacus  and  the  Roman  flotilla  against  the  pi- 
rates, show  how  fearful  was  the  danger,  and  they  seem  to  advert  to  the  link  of 
friendship  existing  between  them  and  Spartacus:  "  Per  idem  tempus  gladiatorea 
apud  oppidum  Preeneste  temptata  eruptione  praesidio  militia,  qui  custos  ades- 
set,  coerciti  aunt,  iarn  Spartacum  et  vetera  mala  rumoribus  ferente  populo,  ut 
est  novarurn  rerum  cupiens  pavidusque.  Nee  multo  post  clades  rei  navalis  acci- 
pitur,  non  bello  (quippe  haud  alias  tarn  immota  pax),  sed  certurn  ad  diem  in 
Campaniam  redire  classem  Nero  jnsserat,  non  exceptis  maris  casibus.  Ergo  gub- 
ernatores,  quamvis  saeviente  pelago,  a  Forniiis  movere;  et  gravi  Africo,  dum 
promunturium  Miseni  superare  contendunt.  Cumanis  litoribus  impacti  trire- 
mium  plerasque  et  minora  navigia  passim  amiserunt." 


THE  PRIVATEERS  LEND   A    HAND.          317 

joined  him  in  overwhelming  numbers,  if  for  nothing  else 
than  to  rid  themselves  of  this  insatiable  Roman  governor 
whose  exactions,  to  satisfy  personal  greed,  well-nigh 
brought  Sicily  to  bankruptcy  and  ruin.112 

On  his  arrival  at  the  sea  opposite  the  Sicilian  shore, 
Spartaeus  who  had  formed  this  plan  of  crossing  over  with 
his  entire  army  for  the  purpose  of  recruiting  from  the 
ranks  of  the  slaves,  negotiated  with  the  freebooters  or 
brigand  mariners,  as  they  are  mercilessly  called  in  the  his- 
tories, who  from  ancient  times  ransacked  the  coasts  for 
plunder.113 

They  exhibited  a  quality  of  perfidy,  perhaps  against 
Rome — although  the  historians  show  that  it  was  against 
Spartacus — which  actually  resulted  in  their  being  swept 
from  their  trade;  for  soon  after  the  suppression  of  the 
servile  war  which  they  are  represented  to  have  been  too 
treacherous  and  disingenuous  to  sustain,  the  Romans  sent 
an  expedition  against  them  which  certainly  was  a  contin- 
uation of  the  great  man-hunt  ending  in  their  own  exter- 
mination.11* If  Spartacus  could  have  accomplished  this 
magnificent  strategical  feat  and  realized  his  scheme  of  pas- 
sing the  winter  in  Sicily  where  the  terribly-oppressed  and 
down-trodden  slaves  would  have  deserted  in  vast  num- 
bers and  extricated  themselves  from  their  otherwise  hope- 
less servitude,  he  might,  allowing  him  his  wonted  success, 
not  only  have  beaten  Crassus,  but  also  the  armies  of 
Pompey  and  Lucullus  when  they  afterwards  arrived. 

In  fact,  we  know  not  what  would  have  been  the  final 
result  upon  the  human  race —indeed,  we  are  loth  to  spec- 
ulate ;  for  under  the  hmmane  management  of  Spartacus  it 
might  have  resulted  in  a  permanent  recognition  of  the 
honor  and  merit  of  human  labor  which  was  in  those  times 
denied. 

It  is  enough  to  repeat  what  history  relates,  that  the  self- 
ish, dishonest  and  treacherous  pirates  took  the  proffered 
gold  of  Spartacus  but  failed  to  land  him  in  Sicily;  for 
though  his  army  enormously  increased,  yet  his  failing  to 

112  Cicero .  Verres,  pastim,  Here  Cicero  gives  an  eloquent  account  of  this 
man's  extortions.  Cicero  assumed  the  cause  of  the  people  vs.  Verres  and  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  a  verdict. 

H"  Heeren,  Pcuplede  l'Antiquili,Vol.  II.  pp.  170-173.  of  the  French  translation. 

in  Liv.,  XCVIII.  "L.  Metellus  praetor  in  Sicilia  adversus  piratos  prospers 
rem  gessit."  (Epitome);  Vellejus  Patercnlus,  Abridgment  of  Latin  History,  Book 
II.  c.  31. 


318  SPARTA  CUS. 

get  there  probably  disconcerted  and  squeezed  him  betwixt 
the  mill-stones  of  peril  and  hope,  leaving  him  heart-broken 
and  defeated.  It  was  the  knell  of  Spartacus.  What  fur- 
ther the  historian  can  trace  of  this  great  general  and  most 
marvelous  genius  is  but  the  description  of  prodigious 
spasms  and  writhings  of  a  dying  giant. 

Crassus,  watching  from  a  distance  these  defeated  man- 
oauvres  of  the  gladiator,  conceived  the  idea  of  imprisoning 
him  in  the  narrow  neck  or  point  of  the  promontory  of 
JBruttium  or  Rhegium,  by  throwing  up  a  line  of  circvwa- 
vallation  across  this  miniature  isthmus  with  an  object  of 
hemming  the  proletarian  army  in  and  besieging  it  during 
the  winter.  The  writer  of  the  article  in  the  Great  French 
Universel  Dictionary  declares  that  Crassus  was  positively 
afraid  to  give  the  enemy  an  honorable  battle.116  Sparta- 
cus, regarded  this  enormous  line  of  retrenchments  with 
contempt.  It  was  an  earthwork  reaching  from  sea  to 
sea,  being,  as  Plutarch  tells  us,  "  36  miles  long,  fifteen  feet 
high  and  a  wall  above  this  of  considerable  height — a  work 
great  and  difficult." 

It  was  now  the  winter  of  B.  C.  71-70.  The  supplies 
for  the  army  of  the  proletaries  were  disappearing.  Some- 
thing must  be  done.  Spartacus  watched  his  opportunity, 
bent  on  retreat  which  involved  an  escape  from  this  trap. 
One  dark -wintry  night  amid  the  roar  of  a  storm,  while  the 
forces  of  Crassus  lay  chilled,  and  torpid,  least  alert  and 
fitted  for  surprise,  the  army  of  the  slaves,  at  the  command 
of  their  leader,  burst  from  the  bivouacs  and  sword  in  hand 
scaled  the  intrenchment,  fiDing  it  with  earth  and  wood, 
and  in  spite  of  all  resistance  passed  over  and  gained  the 
free  plains  beyond.116  Thus  commenced  the  admirable  re- 

116  Speaking  of  Spartacus  he  says:  "Telle  etait,  cependant  la  terreur  qu'  il 
inspirait  encore,  que  Crassus  entreprit  de  1'  enfermer  dans  la  presq*  ile  de  Rhe- 
gium, par  une  fosse  d'un  retranchment  de  15  lieus  de  longeur  1  Le  chef  des  es- 
claves  temoigna  son  profond  mepris  pour  cet  immense  travaille  et  pour  des  en- 
neiuis  qui  n'  osaient  plus  1'  attaquer  en  face ;  puis  quand  les  vivres  commen- 
ceraient  de  lui  manquer,  11  combla  une  partie  de  la  tranchee  pendant  une  nnit 
orage'Jse,  iorca  les  lignes  der  Remains  et  manouvralibrement  dans  la  Lucanie. 
ou  il  extermina  encore  les  troupes  des  deux  leutenants  de  Crassus  qui  oseraient 
1'  inquieter  dans  saretraite."  La  Rousse,  Ihctionaire  Universel,  Art.  Spartacus, 

116  Appian,  Hiltoria  Romano,,  1. 119:  'S.ita.pro.Ko-;  Se  inireas  nodev  avrt?  irpocriovrat 
ircpijuccup,  ovKtrt  /iev  es  naxr/v  jjei  TU>  <rrpa.T<u  JTOCTI,  woAAa  S'  r)vta\\ci  TOIV  jrepiicaij- 
Tj/ucVois  dya juepos,  o.(f>v<a  re  KO.L  crvi't^ws  avroit  iimriimav,  <^axe'Aov$  Tf  fuAuiv  e9  ri}V 
^a.<bpov  e/aj8oAAa>v  Kartxaie,  «ai  rov  irovov  oiiTOts  Svaepyov  enoiei.  Aixnd\u>T6v  rt 
'Pu/uatov  expe'iuaaei'  ev  T<a  /xeTat^fXt'c}!,  Seticvvs  TOic  iStOLf  TVJV  ov^iv  S>v  irti<rovra.i  /XT) 

jtpaToOvTts."    Mommsen',  History  of  Rome,  IV.  p.  107:  "but  in  a  dark  winter 
night  Spartacus  broke  through  the  linos  of  the  enemy ,  and  in  the  spring  of  71 


GREAT   BATTLE   OF   CROTON.  319 

treat  of  Spartacus — a  retreat  which  for  fine  generalship 
combining  fertility  of  expedient,  quelling  insubordination 
within,  and  overcoming  obstacles  without,  may  yet,  when 
more  carefully  studied  and  better  known,  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  true  models  in  warfare.  The  Roman 
general  now  thoroughly  frightened,  wrote  to  Rome  for 
more  help.117 

It  appears  that  after  the  failure  of  Spartacus  to  reach 
Sicily,  a  revolt  of  prodigious  extent  took  place  in  his  army. 
A  body  of  probably  over  50,000  men  separated  from  the 
main  army.  They  vaunted  that  Spartacus  was  a  coward; 
dared  not  meet  the  Roman  general ;  that  they  would  not 
longer  be  restrained  from  giving  the  hated  enemy  battle. 
They  accordingly  appointed  as  their  commanders  two  of 
the  most  boasting  of  the  malcontents,  Grannicus  and  Cas- 
tus,  and  demanded  of  these  inexperienced  captains  to  be 
led  to  battle.118  They  then  provoked  the  army  of  Crassus 
to  an  engagement.  When  Spartacus,  whose  wearying  sym- 

was  once  more  in  Lucania."  Plutarch,  Croitut,  tells  the  same  story,  while 
Schambach,  clearly  shows  it  to  have  been  the  spring  of  70. 

117  Appian,  I.  119-120:  "  Oi  o'  tv  acrrti  'Pu^taioi  TTJS  iroAtopxiaj  irvvdavontvoi, 
Kai  a&o£ovvres  ei  \p6vios  auTOts  tarou  TrbAefiOf  fj-ovofj-a-xuiv,  n0o<ncaTi\fyot>  eiri  TT]V 
<rTpa.Teiav  nofirrijtoi'  dpri  a^mtoiitvov  e£  'I/3pias,  irio'Teuoi'Tes  TJSrj  Svcrxepfs  elvai  Kai 
fifya.  TO  'S.napTa.Kfiov  Ipyov.  Aca  Se  rr)v  yeiporoi'iai'  rrji'&e  Kai  Kpatrcros,  'iva  /x>)  TO 
icAejiov  yevoiTO  ITo/u-Tr^tou,  •nivra.  Tpoirov  cTreiydjUcpo;  eirev/t'pei  T<Z  Sirapraxti),  /cai.  6 
2irapraKOf ,  TOV  \lofj.irrnov  jrpoAa/3«ii/  a^iiav,  €S  <7W^rjKO.f  TOV  K.paao~ov  irpovKa\eiTO-" 

Crassus  much  frightened,  certainly  sent  for  and  obtained  both  the  army  under 
Pompey,  victorious  in  Spain  and  that  of  Lucullus  from  Asia  Minor,  victorious  in 
the  Mithridatic  war.  See  also  La  Rousse,  Dictionairc  Unlversel,  Art.  Spartacut: 
"  Crassus  ecrivait  au  senat  afln  qu'on  envoyat  pour  le  seconder,  Pompee  alors  de 
retour  d'  Espagne,  et  Lucullus  qui  revenait  d'  Asie.  Mais  il  repentait  bientot  de 
cette  demarche  et  recherchat  les  occasions  de  terminer  la  guerre  afln  d'  avoir 
seule  1'  honneur." 

us  Plutarch,  idem,  is  one  of  our  best  witnesses  on  this  great  battle:  "He 
resolved,  therefore,  in  the  first  place,  to  attack  the  troops  which  had  revolted, 
And  formed  a  separate  body,  under  the  command  oft  wo  officers  named  Canniciua 
and  Castus.  With  this  view,  he  sent  a  corps  ol  six  thousand  men  before  to  se'ze 
an  eminence  which  he  thonght  would  be  o:  service  to  him  but  ordered  them  to 
conduct  their  enterprise  with  all  imaginable  secrecy.  They  observed  his  direc- 
tions; and,  to  conceal  their  march  the  better,  covered  their  helmets  and  the  rest 
of  their  arms.  Two  women,  however,  who  were  sacrificing  before  the  enemy's 
camp,  discovered  them,  and  they  would  probably  have  met  their  late,  had  not 
Crassus  advanced  immediately,  and  given  the  enemy  battle.  This  was  the  most 
obstinate  action  in  the  whole  war.  Twelve  thousand  three  hundred  of  the  enemy 
were  killed,  of  which  number  there  were  only  two  found  wounded  in  the  back: 
the  rest  died  in  their  ranks,  after  the  bravest  exertions  of  valour  "'  Livy.  whose 
valuable  history  of  this  great  war  is  lost  is  fortunately  quoted  by  Frontinus. 
Strategematon,  II.  5,  34,  out  of  the  97th,  the  book  of  the  Annales  Ab  Urbe  Condita,  as 
follows:  "Trigintaquinqueinilliaarmatoruin  (fugitivorum  aCrassodevictorum) 
eo  proelio  interfecta  cum  ipsis  ducibus  (Casto  et  Gannico)  Livii's  tradit,  recep- 
tas  quinque  Romaiiorurn  aquilas,  signa  sex  et  viginti.  multa  spolia,  inter  quae 
fasces  cum  securibus."  This  makes  the  numbers  actually  killed  to  have  been 
35.0DO.  Undoubtedly  this  is  the  more  accurate  estimate;  it  also  shows  the  enor- 
mous magnitude  of  the  army  of  Spartacus. 


320  SPARTACUS. 

patliies  echoed  his  foreknowledge  of  the  certain  result,  per- 
ceived this  movement,  he  evidently  gave  up  all  for  lost  and 
resolved  to  die,  bravely  combating  for  his  cause.  Crassus 
met  the  seceders  and  a  terribly  bloody  battle  took  place 
near  Croton,  on  the  banks  of  a  lake  in  lower  Lucania, 
whose  waters,  Plutarch  says,  are  "  sometimes  pure  and 
sometimes  salt."  The  contest  was  extremely  severe. 
Plutarch  wrongly  describes  it  as  the  greatest  of  the  war. 
It  was  long  before  the  army  of  the  seceders  gave  way. 
Not  a  man  flinched.  Of  the  heaps  of  slain  none  were 
wounded  in  the  back;  all  falling  in  the  ranks  performing 
the  bravest  acts  of  valor.  At  last,  overcome  by  numbers 
they  were  forced  to  yield  a  little,  giving  the  Romans  an 
advantage  which  they  took  and  killed  12,300,  or  as  Livy, 
quoted  by  Front! n,  probably  more  correctly  puts  it,  35, 
OOO,1'9  of  the  seceders,  on  the  spot ;  nor  would  any  of  the 
proletaries  have  survived  the  slaughter  had  not  Sparta- 
cus,  by  a  forced  march,  arrived  in  season  to  interfere  and 
put  an  end  to  the  bloody  work.  But  Granicus  and  Castus 
were  among  the  slain. 

Crassus  on  the  whole,  had  made  little  to  be  proud  of 
by  this  last  encounter;  for  his  forces  we- re  much  more 
numerous  than  the  seceders.  Besides  he  certainly  lost  a 
large  number  of  men  in  the  contest,  and  perceiving  that 
its  effect  was  only  to  heal  the  mutiny  and  knit  the  rebels 
together  into  an  indissoluble  brotherhood  by  teaching  the 
dangers  of  their  temerity,  he  began  to  fear  that  Sparta- 
cus,  now  rapidly  marching  northward,  was  earnestly  med- 
itating an  attack  on  Rome. 

The  army  of  the  proletaries,  still  hugging  the  shores 
of  the  sea,  was  now  nearing  the  Tarentine  gulf  on  its 
march  northward  toward  the  port  of  Brundusium  in  its 
second  attempt  to  reach  Sicily  by  sea.  Just  after  cross- 

n»  Frontin,  in  his  Stratngematon,  or  Military  Science,  liber  TI.  cap.  v.  34,  De 
Insiiliis,  instances  this  battle  as  one  of  the  prominent  examples  of  military  tac- 
tics ;  and  gives  the  great  conflict  in  a  new  and  interesting  dress :  "  Crassus, 
Bello  Fiigitivorum  apnd  Cantennam  (Catanam)  bina  castra  comminns  cum  hog- 
tium  castris  vallavit.  Nocte  deinde  commotis  copiis,  manente  praetorio  m 
maioribtis  castris,  ut  fallerentur  hostes,  ipse  omnes  copias  eduxit  et  in  radicibus- 
piv.cdicti  mentis  constituit;  divisoque  cquitatu  praecepit  L.  Qtiintio,  partem 
Kparlaco  obiceret  pugnaque  enm  frustraretur,  parte  alia  (iallos  (ierinanosque  ex 
factionc  <  'asti  et  Cannici  eliceret  ad  pugnam  et  f uga  simulata  deduceret,  ubi  ipse 
aciein  iii'lrnxerut:  qtios cum barbari  insecuti  essent  equiterecedente  in  cornua, 
subito  ac:es  Uomana  pda;>erta  cum  clamore  procurrit.  XXXV  milia  armatorunt 
eo  proflio  inierfecta  cum  ipsis  dncibus  Livins  tradit,  receptas  quinque  Komanaa 
aquilas,  sisua-se.x  et  XX,  multaspolia,  inter quae quinque  fasces  cum  securibua." 


BATTLE  OF  PETELIA.     RUINED  BY  SUCCESS.   321 

ing  the  river  Strongoli,  or  Nesethus  of  the  ancients,  and 
in  the  very  ancient  town  of  Petelia,  the  Roman  forces  tin- 
der the  command  of  L.  Quintius,  one  of  the  officers  of 
Crassus  and  the  quaestor,  TremeUius  Scrofa,  came  up 
with  the  intention  only  of  harassing  him  in  rear  and  flank, 
according  to  the  express  orders  of  Crassus  who  adhered 
to  the  Fabian  tactics.  Spartacus  on  being  attacked  by  a 
few  skirmishers  in  the  rear,  suddenly  wheeled  a  large  de- 
tachment upon  the  Romans  who  were  not  prepared,  and 
succeeded  in  routing  them  so  completely  that  the  quaestor 
who  was  wou»ded,  barely  escaped  with  his  life.  It  was 
another  great  victory. 

But  Crassus,  who  was  a  good  judge  of  effects,  soon  per- 
ceived that  it  was  the  cause  of  reviving  among  the  slaves 
the  malignant  spiiit  of  insubordination.  They  were  again 
so  inflated  with  success  that  they  threatened  to  rebel;  and 
their  miserable  conduct  forced  Spartacus  to  take  an  op- 
posite direction  from  that  which  he  chose  to  march,  caus- 
ing a  disaster  by  hurrying  them  onward  to  final  downfall. 
Plutarch  declares  that  the  insurgents  after  this  victorj 
became  so  arrogant  and  mutinous  that  they  drew  swords 
and  insisted  upon  being  led  against  Crassus'  army  in  open 
field.  They  demanded  to  be  marched  through  Campania 
to  Rome ;  and  Spartacus  was  not  long  afterwards  forced 
to  give  orders  to  march  toward  the  now  trembling  capital 
Yet  notwithstanding  this  insubordination  he  could  but 
admire  their  bravery  and  knew  their  impetuosity  when  led 
to  battle.  Plutarch  in  speaking  of  their  valor  at  the  bat- 
tle of  the  seceders  where,  according  to  Livy,  no  less  than 
35,000  of  the  rebels  were  slain,  says  that  they  died  man- 
fully, only  two  of  the  killed  being  found  wounded  in  the 
back.  "  The  rest  had  died  in  the  ranks,  after  the  grand- 
est exhibit  of  bravery."  Spartacus,  aware  of  the  ap- 
proach of  Pompey  from  the  direction  of  Rome,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  of  the  expected  landing  of  Lucullus  at  Brundu- 
sium,  on  the  other,  and  knowing  the  folly  of  hope  against 
these  three  great  veteran  armies  combined,  struck  a  forced 
march  for  Brundusium,  thinking  still  to  secure  the  co- 
operation of  the  privateers  in  transporting  him  to  Sicily, 
before  Lucullus  hove  in  view.  Though  he  could  rely  upon 
his  soldiers'  bravery  he  foresaw  that  a  general  engagement 
must  be  fatal. 


322  SPARTACUS 

Thus  we  begin  to  comprehend  the  strange  reticence  of 
the  historians  regarding  the  fresh  allies  of  Crassus,  now 
actually  centering  together.  The  old  stigma  upon  the 
touch  of  a  creature  of  lowly  condition  by  an  optiniate  of 
Rome  is  apparently  the  cause  of  the  suppression  of  all 
histories  which  gave  the  details.  There  is  one  authority, 
however,  which  brings  some  of  these  marvels  to  light. 
This  is  Vellejus  Paterculus  whose  History  of  Rome  was 
early  mutilated  in  all  the  manuscripts  except  one,  which 
survived  until  it  was  printed  late  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
Armed  with  this,  we  see  better  to  follow  the  thread  of  this 
great  rebellion  to  its  close,  and  can  thus  correct  some  very 
misleading  errors  of  modern  writers. 

The  whole  army  of  the  proletaries  moved  to  the  sea- 
port of  Brundusium,  where  it  was  hoped  to  obtain  ships 
and  sail  to  Sicily.  But  here  Spartacus  was  met  and  as- 
sailed by  Lucullus  at  that  moment  in  the  act  of  landing 
his  whole  army,  recalled  by  the  senate  of  Rome  to  help 
Crassus.  Whether  much  fighting  took  place  we  are  not  in- 
formed; but  foiled  again  in  his  designs  by  sea,  he  turned 
northward  harrassed  and  goaded  by  the  veteran  army 
from  Asia  in  full  force. 

In  these  returning  legions  of  Lucullus,  was  a  man  who 
was  soon  afterwards  destined  to  play  an  extraordinary 
role,  in  favor  of  the  proletaries,  and  to  lose  his  life  in 
their  defense.  It  was  Clodius,  a  brother-in-law  of  Lucul- 
1ns,  general-in-chief .  Wealthy,  of  noble  blood,  educated, 
and  one  of  the  most  eloquent  lawyers  of  those  days — a 
man  who  restored  to  the  poor  workingmen  their  right  of 
•  organization,  and  who  in  doing  this,  crippled  the  mighty 
Cicero  and  brought  him  to  disgrace,  exile  and  final  death. 
But  we  leave  his  extraordinary  story  for  other  pages  of 
our  history  to  recount.  Suffice  it  here  to  say  that  the  in- 
describable scenes  of  suffering  and  of  horror  which  he 
was  eye  witness  to  in  this  campaign  shaped  his  life-course 
ever  afterwards,  in  favor  of  the  lowly.120 

i2<>Publius  Clodius  was  of  patrician  blood.  See  Lippincott's  Biographical 
Dictionary,  Vol.  I,  art.  Clodius.  "Demagogue  of  a  very  profligate  character  of  the 
patrician  house  of  Appius  Claudius  Pulcher;  served  in  Asia  under  Lucullus  his 
brother-in-law;  became  a  violent  enemy  of  Cicero  who  had  appeared  in  evidence 
against  him  ;  raised  several  bloody  riots  against  the  friends  of  Cicero  when  they 
proposed  and  passed  a  decree  for  his  rsstoration  B.  C.  57''  (see  Cicero,  Pro  Milone); 
Drnmann,  Geschichte  Boms.  The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  refusing  to  mention 
him  under  a  special  article-beading,  calls  Clodius  "a  worthless  demagogue," 


LAST  EFFORT   TO   ESCAPE.  323 

Lucullus,  according  to  good  authority,  drove  the  gladi- 
ator from  the  shipping  and  dogged  him  in  the  rear  at 
every  step.131  Pompey  was  present  with  the  whole  of  the 
large  army  which  he  had  successfully  commanded  in 
Spain.  These  facts  we  know;  for  if  we  do  not  find  men- 
tion of  actual  participation  of  these  two  freshly-arrived 
Roman  generals  and  their  veteran  legions,  as  being  en- 
gaged in  the  great  and  final  battle  of  Silarus,  we  certainly 
find  them  engaged  in  the  man-hunt  which  was  instituted 
on  the  same  day.  Plutarch  also  hints  at  the  fact. 

In  apparent  deference  to  Crassus,who  was  the  real  com- 
mander of  the  three  combined  armies,  the  history-man- 
glers  have  evidently  seen  fit  to  trifle  with  the  truth  in 
leaving  no  mention  of  Pompey  or  of  Lucullus  in  the  last 
great  conflict.  And  especially  pointed  does  this  sugges- 
tion become  when  we  take  into  consideration  that  neither 
of  these  two  generals  was  desirous  of  having  his  name 
mixed  up  with  so  disgraceful  a  thing  as  a  victory  over 
what  went  current  under  the  name  of  a  mob  of  gladiators. 

It  is  thus  made  certain  that  the  workingmen  were 
hemmed  in  between  these  three  experienced  consular  and 
veteran  armies  of  Rome,  in  a  mountain  pass  at  the  head 

while  acknowledging  that  he  "  assailed  Cicero  with  a  formal  charge  of  patting 
citizens  to  death  summarily  without  appeal  to  the  people,"  obtaining  a  decree 
from  the  people  for  his  banishment  400  miles  from  the  city.  Under  the  title 
"  Milo,"  the  Pugilist  and  murderer  of  Clodius,  the  Encyclopaedia  Britanica  says: 
"P.  Clodius,  the  leader  of  the  ruffians  who  professed  the  democratic  cause  waa 
his  personal  enemy,  and  their  brawls  in  the  streets  and  their  mutual  accusations 
in  the  law  courts  lasted  for  several  years  "  Thus  Clodius,  the  champion  of  trade 
unions  and  organized  labor  is  called  "leader  of  the  ruffians  "  who  were  the  work- 
ing people  of  Rome.  The  Lippencott  Biographical  Dictionary,  Art,  Cicero,  says 
ot  Cicero:  "His  enemy,  Clodius,  who  became  tribune  of  the  people  in  B.  C.  58, 
and  who  was  supported  by  Caesar  and  Pompey,  now  manifested  his  viudictiye 
malice  against  Cicero  by  alaw  which  he  proposed:  that  whoever  has  put  to  death 
a  Roman  citizen  without  form  of  trial  shall  be  interdicted  from  fire  and  water." 
The  fact  that  Cicero  had  committed  such  murders  is  proved  by  the  actual  pas- 
sage of  this  law  and  his  being  sent  into  exile  and  his  house  on  the  Palitinate  Hill 
publicly  burned,  thus  consummating  his  terrible  disgrace.  We  fail  to  see  in 
these  stern  measures  of  Clodius  in  punishing  murder,  and  in  upholding  the 
aged  and  respectable  law  permitting  the  organization  of  the  working  people. 
anything  that  would  not  be  considered  humane  and  respectable  in  the  highest 
degree,  if  repeated  right  in  our  own  blazing  civilization. 

121  Appian,  120,  of  book  I.  says:  ....  "  nojtiTrrjiou,  naLvra.  rpoirov  iirtiyofievof 
fire\eipft  r<a  ^rraprdxia,  KOI  o  Siraproxo?,  rov  HouJDJior  irpoAa/3eii'  af  tuiv,  if  (rvviJ^ica? 
rov  Kpdwov  irpovicaAeiTo.  \nrfpoptopevos  8'  iir"  aurou  SiaKivSwiveiv  rt  iyvw,  xai 
ira.p6vTiov  oi  rlav  imrfiav  fjorf  w<raTo  jravri  T<?  <rrpar<a  Sia.  TOV  jrepiTei^iV/iaTOS,  itai  iijtvytv 
eiri  Bpevritnov  Kpacrcrou  OIUIKOVTOS.  <o?  Se  <eai  AeuxoAAoi'  ffj.a.Stv  6  SirapTaxos  es  TO 
BpevTeo-ioc,  airb  TTJS  eirl  MiiJpiioTfl  vi<ci)s  eTraftdi/Ta,  etvai,  ita-vruiv  airoyvoiis  «  x€'Pa* 
P«i  TaJ  Kpa<7(7<a  fiera.  iro\\ov  <cai  TOT*  rrATJdouf  yevo»i«V>)s  {«  rijs  fta^Tjs  /xaxpa;  re 
•cai  xaprcpa;  cot  ev  anoyvtafffi  ToaiovSe  nvpiaStav,  TiTptutrxeTai  es  rov  firfpbv  6  Sirap- 
Taxos  £opariiii,  cat  0-u-yKajj.iia;  TO  yow  (tai  rrpo8a\iav  TTJI'  atririSa  irpos  TOU5  eiriofTaf 
oir</ia^cTO,  H«XOI  xai  aijro?  ical  »roAw  w\^i>o«  in<j>'  O.VTOV  KVic\<adivTtf  ivfo-ov," 


824  SPARTACUS. 

•waters  of  the  river  Silarus.  It  is  also  certain  that  Spar- 
tacus,  if  not  his  whole  army,  now  knew  perfectly  well  that 
the  doom  was  near;  they  bad  by  this  time  all  become  fren- 
zied for  the  approaching  butchery. 

As  one  of  the  most  bloody  and  terrible  battles  the  world 
has  ever  known  was  fought  here,  it  is  fitting  to  pause  in 
order  to  minutely  describe  the  scenes  and  to  array  our 
evidence,  obtained  with  great  difficulty,  regarding  the 
numbers  of  the  contestants,  the  date  of  the  battle  and  the 
carnage  during  its  rage,  and  afterwards  during  the  man- 
hunt instituted  by  the  Romans — the  whole  constituting 
a  cruel  and  awfully  bloody  page  not  to  be  found  in  the 
annals  of  history,  and  which  to  the  people  at  large,  and 
even  to  the  students  of  our  universities,  must  be  regarded 
as  a  chapter  of  news. 

There  were  in  the  combined  armies  of  Crassus,  Pom- 
pey  and  Lucullus,  undoubtedly  more  than  400,000  men, 
most  of  whom  were  experienced  veterans,  thoroughly 
hardened  to  the  combat  and  to  all  the  rigors  of  the  mili- 
tary camp.1" 

In  addition  to  the  significant  words  of  Florus  regard- 
ing Rome  and  her  massing  the  entire  force  against  the  in- 
surgents, we  have  the  auxiliary  argument  of  reason 
which  shows  that  it  could  not  possibly  have  been  other- 
wise ;  for  evidence  is  not  wanting  that  the  force  of  Spar- 
tacus  at  the  battle  of  Silarus,  was  no  less  than  300,000 
strong.  His  army  which  at  the  battle  of  Picenum  is  ac- 
knowledged by  Appian  to  have  been  120,000  in  number, 
by  some  unrecorded  means  which  we  conjecture  to  have 
been  the  collusion  and  co-operation  of  the  privateers 
bringing  men  from  Sicily,  had  grown  to  the  imposing 
total  of  300,000.  Vellejus  tells  UB  this,  in  m  honest  fig- 
in  The  conjecture  that  there  were  400,000  soldiers  in  the  combined  Roman 
army  at  the  battle  of  Silarus  is  not  based  upon  circumstantial  evidence.  Florus, 
whose  words  are  never  regarded  with  distrust,  tells  us  distinctly  that  after  the 
destruction  of  Lentulns  and  Poplicola,  and  the  humiliating  retaliation  by  Sparta- 
ens,  of  the  gladiatorial  combat  in  honor  of  Crixus,  the  fallen  comrade,  these 
words:  "Then,  indeed  they  (the  Romans),  with  their  entire  powers  massed, 
bore  down  upon  the  gladiator.  Tandem  etiam  totis  imperil  viribus  contra  mir- 
millionem  consurgetur.''  Accordingly  we  find  the  Romans  soon  sending  post- 
haste for  all  the  old  veteran  armies ;  one  of  which  was  in  Spain  victorious  over 
the  powerful  SertoriuB,  and  the  other  in  Asia,  equally  triumphant  over  Mith- 
radtes.  All  surged  together  against  Spartacug.  See  Florus,  Annales,  III.  20. 

ia  Our  accidental  discovery  of  this  invaluable  information  may  be  worth  re- 
lating: The  unreasonable  figure  of  40,000  given  in  our  own  version  of  Vellejus, 
in  view  of  the  great  combined  forces  admitted  by  Plutarch,  Appian  and  Florus 


TEE    GARBLED   HISTORY.  325 

nres ;  although  they  have  been  garbled  by  a  merciless 
translator  and  made  to  read  40,000.  This  cheat  would 
have  actually  prevailed  but  for  the  accident  already  men- 
tioned, of  the  preservation  of  a  MSS.  copy  from  which  the 
editio  princeps  was  printed  soon  after  the  invention  of 
that  art,  and  a  copy  of  which  is  still  to  be  seen  at  the 
Vatican.124 

Supplied  with  these  important  figures,  so  long  held  back, 
but  so  perfectly  reasonable — since  they  straighten  out  the 
incongruities  which  meet  the  reader  who  sees  the  vast 
multitudes  of  the  Roman  legions  positively  known  to  be 
now  centering  in — we  find  ourselves  in  a  condition,  other- 
wise crippled  in  absurdities  and  discrepancies,  to  make  a 
better  description  of  the  contest. 

Time  was  given  for  the  army  of  Spartacus  to  make  long 

against  Spartacns  led  us  to  suspect  that  an  immense  error  larked  in  the  history 
of  the  battle  of  Silarus.  Ransacking  for  more  light  we  ran  against  the  reference 
to  Dr.  Schambach'e  Italischer  Sklavenkrieg,  which  we  procured  from  Europe  after 
much  delay.  Page  11,  Quellen  zur  Geschichte  has  the  following:  "  Vellejus  ist  f iir 
nns  wenig  wichtig.  Wir  erfahren  durch  ihn  nichts,  das  uns  nicht  auch  sonat  be- 
kannt  ware,  mit  Ausnahme  der  Zahlenangabe,  dass  von  300,000  Sklaven  in  dem 
letzten  Kampfe  noch  40,000  ubrig  gfiweseii  seien.  In  dem  Wenlgen,  was  er  gibt, 
lasst  sich  ihm  eine  Unrichtigkeit  nicht  nachweisen."  This  not  only  explained 
the  reasonable  facts,  but  also  vouched  for  the  truthfulness  of  Vallejus.  Setting 
out  afresh  on  the  hunt  for  the  exact  words  of  the  editio princeps,  we  at  last  found 
a  copy  of  the  Lugdunum  edition  containing  the  MSS.  text  in  a  note. 

is*  During  and  before  the  renaissance  there  appears  to  have  been  a  not  in- 
considerable dispute  among  scholars  over  the  figure  CC'C,  millia,  to  be  seen  in 
the  editio  prinreps  of  Vallejus,  on  account  of  this  figure  having  been  altered  to 
XL.  millia.  We  therefore  give  the  rendering  with  its  falsified  figure,  and  follow 
it  with  the  remarks  of  the  Lugdunum  editor  written  some  2Q0  years  ago,  together 
with  the  perfectly  trustworthy  quotation  from  the  editio  princeps  Vellejus,  in- 
terpolated by  a  fraud,  is  currently  made  to  say  these  words  about  Spartacus. 

"Fugitivi  e  ludo  gladiatorio  Capua  profugientes,  duce  Spartaco,  raptis  ex  ea 
urbe  gladiis;  mox,  crescente  in  dies  multitudine,  gravibus  variisque  casibus  ad- 
fecere  Italiam  quorum  numerus  in  tantum  adolevit,  ut  qua  ultimo  dimicavere 
acie,  XL.  millia  (in  the  original  manuscript  written  by  Vallejue  himself  COO. 
millia)  hominum  se  Romano  exercitui  opposuerunt." 

The  remarks  of  John  Campbell  upon  this  interpolation  are  given  in  a  note, 
very  guardedly,  as  follows: 

"  Ut  nihil  hie  mutandum  pntem,  f acit  maxima scriptorum  dissentio.  Quorum 
in  hoc  numero  diversitatem  scire  qui  desideret  adeat  eruditissium  Treinshemium 
ad  Flori  liberum  III.  cap.  20,  Vossius-"  Farther  on,  same  note:  "  XL.  Alii  hunc 
numernm  plurimum  augent.  Inter  quos  is  qui  minimum  est  Eutropius.  Hie 
sexaginta  millia  virorum  ab  iis  collect*  fuisse  scribit.  Apianns  vero  ad  C.  ac  XX. 
millia  extendit.  Orosius,  Livii  epitomator,  medium  tenuisse  videntur.  Itaque 
vix  ambigo,  quin  in  Vellejio  fit  XC.  Millia  hominum  Vossius.  Nimis  exiguus 
namerus,  in  quo  variant  scriptores,  Princeps  Editio,  CCC.  rnilha  homntv  '•  Signed 
Heinsius. 

In  the  Hudson  edition  (Oxaniae),  the  text  is  the  same  as  above;  but  the  note 
regarding  Heins  is  quoted  as  follows:  Note  5;  "  XC.  legendum  esse  non  ambiguit 
Voss.  An  XC.  aut  C.  millia  hominum  ecribendum  dubitat  Heins,  QUJA  EDITIO 
PRINCEPS  CCC.  MILLIA  HAHET  HOMIXUM." 

This  is  sufficiently  positive  to  settle  the  number  of  the  army  of  Spartacus  at 
the  battle  of  Silarus,  at  300  000  men.  because  it  is  the  same  wording  ot  Vellejua 
himself  who  lived  near  the  very  spot  and  whose  father  probably  commanded  a 
division  of  cavalry  at  the  battle. 


326  SPARTACUS. 

marches  westward  toward  Rome,  in  obedience  to  the  de- 
mands of  his  mutinous  soldiers.  A  straight  cut  from 
Brundusium  to  the  battle-field  could  not  have  been  less 
than  100  miles;  as  it  was  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Si- 
larus  in  a  nearly  direct  line  from  that  seaport  and  Rome. 
As  we  have  evidence  of  his  ha\ing  been  repulsed  by  Lu- 
cullus  at  Brundusium,  we  can  understand  how  he  was 
followed  by  him  all  along  this  march.  Crassus  likewise, 
if  not  in  the  act  of  constantly  provoking  him,  as  we  are 
inclined  to  suspect,  was  in  the  mountain  pass  of  the  Si- 
larus  when  he  arrived  and  pitched  camp  by  its  side. 

The  combined  hostile  armies  now  lay  over  against  each 
other  for  a  considerable  time.  Fortifications  were  drawn 
by  both  and  the  activities  on  the  Roman  side,  of  center- 
ing in,  were  given  both  time  and  force.  We  now  find 
the  two  contestants  face  to  face,  each  tempting  the  other 
to  make  the  first  dash.  It  was,  according  to  Dr.  Scham- 
bach's  estimate — which  we  adopt  as  the  most  accurate — as 
late  as  February  of  the  year  70  before  Christ.  The  war 
had  been  raging  about  four  years.  But  although  winter, 
it  is  not  in  our  power  to  know  whether  it  was  cold  weather. 
Probably  not ;  for  the  winters  are  generally  mild  in  these 
portions  of  Italy.125 

One  day  Crassus  ordered  his  soldiers  to  dig  a  trench 
and  while  thus  engaged  the  gladiators  made  an  advance, 
upon  them.  It  proved  the  commencement  of  the  great 
battle.128  From  a  simple  skirmish  both  armies  gradually 
closed  into  the  deadly  fray  and  the  combat  became  more 
and  more  furious.  They  eagerly  welcomed  the  battle  with 
reckless  feelings  of  despair,  knowing  that  their  hour  had 
come,  yet  staking  their  hopes  upon  another  great  and  de- 
cisive victory.1117 

Heroism,  love  of  conflict,  intrepidity  and  fearlessness 


128  Plutarch,  Cra&sut,  mentions  severe  coldness  a  month  or  two  before  when 
Spartacus  ran  the  blockade  in  Rhegium.  But  that  was  a  night  squall.  Besides 
the  battle  of  l^ilarus  occurred  near  the  opening  spring.  This  agrees  with  Scham- 
bach,  S.  13. 

i2«  Plutarch,  idem,  12.  "  Crassus.  therefore  hastened  to  give  that  stroke  him- 
self, and  with  the  same  view,  encamped  very  near  the  enemy.  One  day,  when 
he  had  ordered  his  soldiers  to  dig  a  trench,  the  gladiators  attacked  them  as  they 
were  at  work.  Numbers  came  np  continually  on  both  sides  to  support  the  com' 
batants ;  and  at  last  Spartacus  seeing  what  the  case  necessarily  required,  drew 
out  his  whole  army."  Trans,  of  Langhorne. 

w  La  Rousse,  DicHenairt  Universel,  speaking  of  the  gladiator  says:  "  S* 
troupe  etait  aflblee  da  «wn»«s8." 


TWELFTH  BATTLE.     SILARUS.  327 

of  death  were  frenziedly  seated  on  their  hearts;  but  until 
now,  recklessness  had  been  a  stranger  in  the  camps  of 
Spartacus ;  and  when  this  came,  foreknelling  the  desper- 
ate ultimatum,  all  mutually  realized  the  approach  of  dis- 
solution and  were  ready  to  drink  the  intoxicating  potion 
which  brave  men  taste  midst  the  furious  lunge  of  steel. 

Thus  a  skirmish  between  the  advance  guards  of  both 
armies  brought  on  the  general  engagement.  Spartacus 
who  was  goaded  by  a  hatred  of  the  Roman  leader,  for 
some  time  stood  off  at  a  distance,  eyeing  the  contest. 
Brigade  after  brigade  fell  into  the  murderous  vortex.  At 
length  Spartacus  issued  his  general  order  of  battle  and  at 
the  ring  of  his  war  clarions  the  two  angry  armies  closed 
up  bringing  on  the  ferocious  conflict.128  They  brought 
their  chieftain  his  horse ;  but  the  gladiator,  like  Warwick, 
drew  from  its  sheath  his  sword  and  with  one  blow  of  his 
strong  arm,  killed  the  excited  steed ;  then  shoiiting  on- 
ward to  his  men,  uttered  the  farewell  speech  of  Spartacus 
to  his  soldiers:  "  Victorious  I  shall  find  horses  in  plenty 
among  the  enemy;  defeated  I  shall  no  longer  want  one." 
Then  poising  himself  he  rushed  for  Crassus  with  his  steel 
high  in  air  and  fell  upon  the  ranks  of  his  adversary  in 
personal  combat.  "  It  was  a  fierce  struggle.  Long  after 
the  victory  was  hopeless  Spartacus  was  traced  by  heaps 
of  the  slain  who  had  fallen  by  his  hand,  and  his  body  was 
lost  completely  in  the  awful  carnage  which  closed  that 
day  of  blood." 1J9  Plutarch  says  that  he  aimed  to  kill130 
Crassus ;  and  toward  this  mark  through  darts  and  jave- 
lins he  pressed,  and  over  windrows  of  the  dead,  rushing 
in  quest  of  his  foe,  whom,  indeed  he  did  not  reach,  but 
he  killed  two  of  his  centurians.  When  all  who  made  with 
him  this  mad  and  desperate  plunge  had  fled  or  fallen,  the 
terrible  gladiator  remained  fighting  with  unflinching  gal- 
lantry until  he  fell,  covered  with  many  wounds  and  so 
completely  cut  to  pieces  that  his  body  was  never  found. 
Even  Florus  who  had  no  language  sufficiently  bitter  with 
which  to  malign  him,  says  "  he  died  like  a  Roman  em- 

148  Appian,  I.  120 ;  "  Tevoufvi)?  Sf  TTJ?  p-a^r)?  ficucpaf  re  <cai  xaprepaf  105  ev  airoy- 
viaaei  To<r<av&e  fj.vpiaSuiV,  riTpiacnceTa.1  es  TOV  /LiTjpbf  6  Sirapraicos  iopari'u,  «ai  <ruy<ca/n- 
\//as  TO  yovv  (tat  TrpojSaywc  TT\V  atrm'Sa  irpbs  TOVS  CTTidfTas  aTrefiaxtTO,  jue'xpi  »cai  OUTOS 
xal  TroXu  »rAi)i>os  aju.$'  aurbi/  /cuicAa>i>ei>Te$  eiretrov." 

IK  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Greek  and  Roman  Biography,  Art.  Spartacut. 

iso  Plutarch,  Crassus,  12. 


328  SPARTACUS. 

peror."  m  His  forces  appear  to  have  fought  manfully  un- 
til the  death  of  their  leader,  when  the  lines  gave  way  and 
a  hideous  carnage  followed.  The  Romans  gave  no 
quarter.  Sixty  thousand  workingmen  fell  in  this  glorious 
defeat — glorious  in  the  appreciation  of  all  who  admire 
feats  of  sublimest  valor ;  but  alas,  a  defeat  which  for  cen- 
turies riveted  the  chains  of  the  servile  race. 

We  paraphrase  Appian  for  the  following,  on  the  close 
and  consequence  of  this  terrible  scene:  The  butchery  by 
the  Romans  surpassed  the  power  of  counting,  for  it  cov- 
ered many  thousands.  The  body  of  Spartacus  lay  dead 
on  the  field.  Great  numbers  fled  to  the  mountains  after 
the  battle,  and  Crassus  pursued  them.  They,  however, 
reorganizing  themselves  into  four  divisions  fought  back, 
until  all  were  destroyed  except  6,000  who  were  crucified 
upon  the  high-road  from  Capua  to  Rome. 

These  "  many  thousands  "  slaves  who  escaped  to  the 
mountains  as  here  reported  by  Appian  were  the  40,000  of 
Vallejus,  in  his  editio  princeps  which  we  have  used  on  the 
assurance  of  Dr.  Schambach.13*  This  would  make  the  num- 
ber of  men  who  fell  in  the  battle  after  and  before  the 
death  of  their  leader  and  including  the  carnage  of  the 
route,  when  no  man  was  spared  and  no  quarter  given,  to 
foot  up  260,000 — an  immense  number — but  when  we  re- 
flect that  there  raged  an  internecine  spirit  breathing  only 
vengeance  and  void  of  feeling  throughout  the  great  Roman 
army,  and  contemplate  the  possible  strokes  of  such  swords- 
men, under  orders  to  exterminate  their  now  defenseless 
victims,  these  numbers  are  not  surprising. 

A  few  more  words  and  the  tragedy  is  told.  Such  were 
the  numbers  of  the  brave  veterans  of  this  great  revolt  who 
fell  in  the  gigantic  contest  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Si- 
larus.133  In  the  mountains,  during  the  pursuit  great  num- 

isi  "  Spartacus  ipse  in  prime  agmine  fortissime  dimicans,  quasi  Imperator. 
occisus  est."  (Florus,  liber  III.  cap.  20). 

132  Heinsius  distinctly  says  that  Vellejus  put  the  number  of  the  army  of 
Spartacus  at  800,000,  from  which  total  40.000  escaped.  "  qua  editio  prinrept  habet 
XL.  e  CCC.  nnllia  hominum."  So  Schambach  in  Der  Italische  Sklavenauf stand,  S. 

11,  Quellen  ear  Geschichte,  says:  "Wirerfahren  von  Vellejus dass  von  300,000 

Sklaven  in  dem  letzten  Kampfe  noch  40,000  tibrig  gewesen  seien."  The  two  ac- 
counts of  Appian  and  Vellejus  Paterculus  do  not  at  all  disagree.  Appian,  I.  idem: 
"*O  rt  Aoiirdf  avToO  orparbs  a/cocr^icos  rjfiij  KareicoTrTovTo  Kara.  77X^^04,  <us  tfrovov  yeve- 
<7#ai  roil'  fitv  oi>S'  evapi'ifyiTjTOi'  'Punaiiav  6e  es  j((.Ai'ov«  apSpat,  ical  TOV  ZSirapraxou 
vtKW  oi>x  fvpedrjvai.  TTO\V  S'  en.  irArjdos  jjv  fv  TOIS  ope<riv,  fK  TTJ?  MOX>JS  Sia^uyof 
«<£'  O&9  o  Kpa(7(7O5  avefianvev- " 

i^  For  a  description  of  the  Silarus  and  the  surrounding  region  see  Strabo, 
Geographic  a,  V.  cap.  4. 


BATTLE  OF  SILARU8.      THE  MAN-HUNT. 


"here  more  fell,  and  6,000  were  taken  prisoners  of  war. 
The  remainder  of  the  great  army  who  after  the  defeat, 
and  the  death  of  their  beloved  and  faithful  leader,  en- 
deavored to  escape,  was  indeed  small. 

According  to  Appian,  the  pursuit  was  made  by  Pompey 
who  must  have  participated  in  the  battle.  This  grasping 
egotist  easily  finished  the  massacre  and  then  vaunted  that 
he  had  been  the  principle  in  putting  down  the  rebellion; 
thus  adding  to  the  proof  that  all  the  three  Roman  armies 
were  massed.  Great  numbers  of  the  fugitives  were  over- 
taken and  crucified.  Every  one  of  the  6,000  who  fell  pris- 
oners at  the  battle  of  Silarus  and  in  the  mountains  was 
hung  on  the  cross  along  the  Appian  way ;  and  for  months 
their  bodies  dangled  there  to  delight  the  vengeance-lov- 
ing gentry  who,  on  their  drives  to  and  from  the  cities  of 
Rome  and  Capua,  rejoiced  to  behold  such  sights  as  in  our 
time  would  provoke  the  shame  and  contempt  of  the  world. 

Slavery  from  the  downfall  of  Spartacus,  the  last  eman- 
cipator, had  an  unhindered  sweep  in  Rome  and  her  prov- 
inces until  Jesus,  100  years  later,  founded  or  brought  into 
the  open  world  the  culture  of  the  communes  hitherto 
compulsorily  secret,  that  mankind  at  birth  are  naturally 
free  and  equal — a  culture  which  is  based  upon  peace  and 
submission;  the  antithesis  of  the  plans  of  Eunus,  Athe- 
nion,  Spartacus  and  all  revolters.  This  plan  was  original 
in  Jesus,  and  it  has  prevailed;  for  chattel  ownership  of 
man  by  man  has,  under  his  open  culture,  disappeared  from 
the  earth.  Rome  became  "  a  model  of  rapacity,  dishonesty 
and  fraud;  having  in  her  period — almost  a  thousand 
years,  produced  scarcely  a  dozen  men  whose  names  have 
descended  to  posterity  with  an  untarnished  fame."1** 

But  if  Spartacus,  whose  acts  were  in  Italy,  might  be 
called  a  Roman,  he  certainly  may  be  included  in  the  Hat 
of  names  of  the  untarnished  famous ;  for  his  nature  was 
gentle  though  his  character  was  marked  and  equal  to  the 
dignity  of  grander  victories  than  came  into  the  list  of  the 
Scipios  or  the  Caesars — since  he  fought  entirely  for  a  prin- 
ciple, dying  as  his  wife  had  predicted  of  him,  happy  in 
the  enthusiasm  of  an  exuberant,  manly  swoop  of  nerve 
and  muscle,  grand,  if  not  gigantic,  amid  the  dismaying 
fury  of  enemies  of  liberty  and  of  law. 

134  Carey,  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  Vol.  L  p.  W7. 


330  SPARTACUS. 

Immediately  after  the  destruction  of  Spartacus  and  his 
army,  another  great  man-hunt  was  instituted,  similai-  to 
those  we  have  described  in  the  chapters  on  Viriathus, 
Eunus  and  Athenion.  It  lasted  six  months,  raged  with 
merciless  atrocities  and  was  followed  by  another  exter- 
minatory man-hunt  against  the  pirates  who,  if  we  are  to 
believe  the  histories  which  have  been  permitted  to  survive, 
were  the  true  friends  of  the  Romans,  because  they  treach- 
erously refused  to  assist  the  insurgent  army  to  cross  into 
Sicily.  But  as  we  have  already  stated,  this  story  looks  ex- 
tremely flimsy  and  must  be  considered  with  caution ;  as 
the  fact  remains  well  vouched  for  that  Rome  fell  upon  the 
pirates  and  privateers  with  a  powerful  fleet  commanded  by 
Pompey  himself  and  succeeded  in  less  than  a  year,  in  anni- 
hilating them  so  completely  that  ever  afterwards  the  Med- 
iterranean was  cleared  of  these  maritime  desperadoes.1*5 

No  fewer  than  1,000,000  slaves  are  reported  by  Csecilius 
Calactenus  to  have  been  crucified  and  otherwise  slain  in 
the  combined  wars  of  the  slaves  who  rebelled  against  the 
huge  and  inhuman  slave  system  of  the  Romans.  This  es- 
timate, repeated  with  reserve  by  Dr.  Schambach,1'6  comes 
to  us  not  from  Calactenus  direct,  for  his  valuable  histor- 
ies are,  like  the  others,  lost;  but  it  is  transmitted  indirectly 
by  Athenaeus,  whose  quotations  from  the  lost  books  are 
more  and  more  highly  prized. 

But  alas !  Of  what  utility  were  all  these  outbreaks  of 
human  irascibility  with  their  awful  details  of  blood  and 
extermination?  True,  one  comfort  clings:  To  die  in  the 
desperate  attempt  for  freedom  was  better  than  to  live  in 
the  griping  coils  of  slavery.  But  "  an  eye  for  an  eye  and 
a  tooth  for  a  tooth  "  brought  no  relief  for  downtrodden- 
humanity.  It  never  has,  it  never  can,  it  never  will.  The 
still  lingering  idea  of  a  semi-belligerent  force  organized  on 
the  strike  plan,  so  long  as  it  does  not  choose  the  weapons 

i»  For  the  law  commissioning  Pompey  to  the  work  of  exterminating  the  pi. 
rates,  see  Vellejus,  Historia  Ramana,  liber  II.  cap.  xxxi.:  and  for  a  description 
of  th«  work  itself,  Appian,  I.  121 ;  Pliny,  Histvna  Naturalis,  VII.  25 ;  Tacitus, 
Aimales,  XII.  62;  XV.  25,  Bellum  Piraticum. 

184  Schambach,  Italischer  Sklavenauf stand.  S.  5.  "  Die  Zahl  aller  in  diesen  und 
anderen  minder  bedeutenden  oder  uns  zufallig  nicht  uberlieferten  Aufsta'nden 
getoclteten  Sklaven  giebt  Athen.,  wahrscheinlich  nach  der  ilbertriebenen  Berech- 
nung  des  Cacilius  von  Kalakteauf  etwa  eine  Million  an."  These  doubts  regard- 
ing the  number  would  have  been  dispelled  had  thfi  learned  doctor  reflected  that 
the  number  of  lives  lost  in  the  war  of  Spartacug  alone  exceeded  half  that  sum. 
A  quarter  of  a  million  of  slaves  were  killed  in  the  last  battle  and  in  the  man-hunt 
which  followed.  No  doubt  several  millions  were  killed  in  all. 


TEE  LESSON  TO  HUMANITY.  331 

of  overt  war,  and  sedulously  abstains  from  military  or 
other  violent  means  of  resistance  and  self-defense,  may  be 
in  conformity  with  the  reasonable  methods  of  relief;  it  is 
unquestionably  consistent  with  the  modern  age  and  yields 
the  rough  polemic  and  the  intellectual  jar  which  surges 
and  jostles  men  into  a  conception  of  arbitration  and  poli- 
tical unanimity.  But  humanity  in  the  awful  and  relent- 
less conflicts  we  have  described,  of  which  this  revolt  of 
Spartacus  was  the  last  and  the  typical  example,  has  had 
enough  of  the  destructive,  enough  of  the  irascible,  enough 
of  extermination.  Let  us  profit  by  these  examples,  and  no 
longer  remain  regardless  of  the  better  and  more  promis- 
ing plan  of  another  master,  and  the  next  to  succeed. 
This  great  preceptor  constantly  taught  the  working  peo- 
ple "  that  they  resist  not  evil;"  and  his  are  the  precepts 
prevailing  all  through  the  civilizing  inculcation  of  "  good 
for  evil,"  until,  after  a  bi-millennial  trial  of  the  brutal  in- 
stincts, the  oppressor  now  perceives  and  is  being  con- 
strained to  acknowledge  that  "an  injury  to  one  is  the 
concern  of  all." 

Whoever  has  the  curiosity  to  observe  the  results  of 
these  defeats  upon  the  Roman  people  will  find  that  all  the 
blood  that  was  shed  had  no  influence  whatever  toward 
refining  human  feelings.  About  this  time  the  amphithe- 
atre began  in  earnest  to  supersede  the  older  games  of  the 
Roman  circus.  The  revolts  had  kindled  up  a  fresh  spirit 
of  vengeance,  and  popular  conversation  inflamed  the  hid- 
eous passion  for  sights  in  the  gladiatorial  ring. 

These  revolts  had  moreover  taught  the  Roman  politio- 
ians  and  all  those  who  catered  to  power,  that  the  slave 
system  which  made  bondsmen  of  prisoners  of  war  taken  by 
tens  of  thousands  in  the  great  conquests  of  the  past  hun- 
dred years,  were  a  desperate  and  dangerous  element  in 
the  land.  But  a  people  filled  with  grudges  as  were  the 
Romans,  after  this  terrible  succession  of  revolts  which 
have  been  described,  could  think  of  no  mild,  humane 
methods  of  getting  rid  of  the  dangerous  slaves. 

To  see  them  thrown  to  the  wild  beasts  and  eaten  alive 
or  to  train  them  for  the  ghastly  habit  of  cutting  each 
others'  throats  upon  the  sands  of  an  amphitheatre,  was 
to  their  truly  ferocious  character  the  natural  way  of  get- 
ting rid  of  them.  This  in  part  answers  the  inquirer's 


•533  SPARTACUS. 

question  as  to  the  cause  of  the  rapid  and  phenomenal  de- 
cline of  morals  at  Home. 

The  comparatively  innocent  circus  waned  in  favor  of 
the  arena.  Vast  amphitheatres  were  constructed  in  towns 
and  cities  everywhere.  At  Borne,  where  before  it  had 
cost  the  contractors  great  sums  of  money  for  men  to  fight 
in  the  games,  the  immense  influx  of  slaves  had  cheapened 
the  price,  and  this  redoubled  their  activity  until  it  soon 
became  an  absorbing  business  bringing  with  it  a  loath- 
some pest-hole  of  horror  and  corruption. 

Surely  the  new  plant  which,  in  an  obscure  corner  of 
the  earth  fell  among  such  tares  and  thorns,  must  have 
had  a  prodigious  work  to  do,  in  bringing  into  the  world 
the  wonderful  spirit  of  sympathy  and  of  moral  sweetness 
which  it  is  our  great  fortune  to  enjoy  in  this  enlightened, 
slaveless  century  1 


CHAPTER  XIIL 

ORGANIZATION. 

ROME'S  ORGANIZED  WORKINGMEN  AND  WOMEN. 

ORGANIZATION  OP  THE  FBEEDMEN — The  Jus  Coeundi — Roman  Unions 
— The  Collegium — Its  Power  and  Influence — What  the 
Poor  did  with  their  Dead — Cremation — Burial  a  Divine  Rig^t 
which  they  were  too  Lowly  to  Practice — Worship  of  bor- 
rowed Gods — Incineration  or  Burial  and  Trade  Unions  com- 
bined— Proofs — Glance  at  the  Inner  social  Life  of  the  ancient 
Brotherhoods — State  Ownership  and  Management — Nation- 
alized Lands — Number  and  Variety  of  Trade  Unions — Strug- 
gles— Numa  Pompilius  First  to  Recognize  and  Uphold  Trade- 
Unions — Law  of  the  12  Tables  taken  from  Solon — Harmony, 
Peace,  Ease,  steady  Work,  Prosperity  and  Plenty  Lasting 
with  little  Interruption  for  500  Years — Bondmen  fared  worse. 

W»  have  spoken  of  certain  organizations  among  the  work- 
ing people  of  ancient  times.  That  these  existed  is  no  longer 
denied.  In  Rome  they  were  mostly  freedmen.  But  what 
inspired  their  combination  into  secret  orders  does  not  ap- 
pear plain  to  those  who  study  the  past  for  the  sake  of  grati- 
fying a  taste  for  great  events.  Neither  do  those  who  study 
it  for  purposes  of  gleaning  points  in  philosophy  and  religion 
as  commonly  understood,  obtain  any  correct  idea  of  them. 
The  ancient  contempt  rooted  in  the  taint  of  labor  whii-h 
slavery  inspired  is  yet  too  strong ;  and  there  still  lingers 
too  much  of  the  old  spirit  of  paganism  to  allow  of  interest, 
or  hardly  of  curiosity.  This  must  answer  the  astonished 
student  of  sociology  who  asks  why  so  much  ignorance  on. 
the  subject  of  those  ancient  societies. 

Again,  we  have  alluded,  in  a  previous  chapter,  to  the  fact 
that  writers  and  speakers  of  those  days  were  extremely 


S34  ORGANIZA  TION. 

chary  of  information  regarding  them.  The  cause  of  this 
was  identical  with  that  which  inspires  the  same  thing  here 
amongst  us  now — disdain.  From  1870  until  1886,  a  pe- 
riod of  sixteen  years,  little  was  known  to  the  masses  of  society 
of  the  vast  organization  amidst  us,  down  in  society's  core, 
except  that  now  and  then  a  strike,  like  a  volcanic  eruption, 
shook  the  moral  and  financial  surface.  Yet  in  that  period 
the  most  splendid  vehicles  of  knowledge  ever  before  known, 
existed.  There  was  an  organized  policy,  mixed  with  con- 
tempt, silently  preventing  even  a  wayside  mention  of  these 
phenomena.  When  in  1886,  a  decided  stand  taken  by  Mr. 
Powderly,  pleasing  the  press  which  may  have  expected  to 
see  defeat  and  disaster  of  the  great  collectivity,  flung  the 
door  of  the  mighty  dungeon  ajar,  and  a  knowledge  of  their 
numbers  and  power  burst  out,  the  people  were  overwhelmed 
with  surprise.  How  much  easier  then,  was  it,  in  that  bar- 
baric age,  without  mechanical  means  of  transmitting  truth, 
even  had  historians,  poets  and  philosophers  been  inclined 
to  do  so,  to  close  the  doors  against  curiosity  and  the  love  of 
\  learning.1 

We  begin  by  the  broad  statement  that  from  the  earliest 
times  at  wnich  anything  is  known  of  them,  although  they 
were  sunk  in  ineffable  contumacy,  they  yet  enjoyed  one  boon 
— the  right  of  combination.  Strange  to  say,  no  conspiracy 
laws  are  to  be  found ;  at  any  rate  among  the  Romans,*  un- 
til about  the  time  of  the  emperors."  These  rights  of  organ- 
ization in  very  ancient  times,  extended  all  over  Europe  so 
far  as  is  known.4  Some  of  the  first  gleamings  of  this  may 
be  gotten  from  the  authors.  As  early  as  Numa  Pompilius* 

i  Mommsen,  De  Collegiis  et  SodaHeiis  Romanorum,  p.  31.  "81  qurorimus  de 
loco  collegiis  opificum  in  rebus  pubiicis  apud  Romanes  concesso.  Sed  id  ipsum 
quroritur,  an  quaerere  liceat:  eat  enim  altissirnum  de  hac  re  apud  auctores  silen- 
•fcium."  Here  Mommsen  admits  that  the  profoundest  silence  reigns  among 
authors,  in  regard  to  these  unions,  and  refers  for  his  proof  to  a  stone  (vide  Orell. 
Inter.  4,105)  bearing  an  insription  of  a  union.  This  was  a  union  of  musicians  that 
existed  at  Rome.  'The  inscription  runs  thus:  "  M.  Julius  Victor,  ex  collegio 
Liticinum  Cornicinum."  Mommsen  alludes  to  this  find  in  proof  of  the  fact  that 
working  people  had  organized  Unions  of  musicians. 

*  In  page  52  of  the  Consular  report  of  Mr.  James  T.  Dubois,  U.  S.  Consul  at 
Ijeipzig,  published  by  the  State  Department  in  1885,  at  Washington,  there  is  s 
reference  to  the  attempted  suppression  by  Tullius  Hostilius  of  the  Collegia  Opt- 
fixum;  but  that  they  continued  to  thrive  he  acknowleges  in  the  next  paragraph. 
A  close  inspection  shows  that  they  were  by  no  means  suppressed. 

*  Mommsen,  De  Col.  et  Sodal.  Ramanorum,  cap,  iv.  §10,  p.  73. 

4  Grnter,  Insrriplwnes  Antiques  Totius  Orltis  Rnmarwrum,  399, 4.  431, 1.  "  Om- 
nia  corpora  Lugduni  licite  coeuntia."  Cicero,  Pro  Sexto,  14,  32,  says:  "There 
was  no  town  in  Italy,  no  colony .  no  prefecture,  no  board  of  tax  collectors  at  Rome, 
no  trade  union,  not  holding  common  cause  with  one  another."  This  was  during 
bis  struggle  to  suppress  them. 


NUMA'S  TRADE  UNION  CATEGORIES.         335 

time,  perhaps  700  years  before  Christ,  they  are  known  to 
have  existed  in  great  numbers.  This  king  tolerated  them; 
and  there  exist  some  curious  data  respecting  the  system 
which  he  invented  for  their  regulation.6  He  ordered  that 
the  entire  people  including  the  working  classes,  be  distri- 
buted into  eleven  guilds  This  statement  of  Plutarch  is 
however  regarded  by  Mommsen  as  incorrect.  The  latter, 
after  investigating  the  data  given  anterior  to  Plutarch,  con- 
cludes that  it  must  have  been  eight  classes  instead  of  eleven. 
At  that  time  there  were  distinct  trades,  embracing  all  the 
arts  of  remote  antiquity.  While  this  may  be  true  that  eight 
was  the  number  of  categories  there  certainly  is  agreement 
among  authors  as  to  about  that  number.6  It  would  appear 
by  their  complete  privilege  of  combination  and  their  ap- 
parently perfect  recognition  by  this  wise  king  who  reigned 
probably  700  years  before  Christ,  that  at  time"  there  must 
have  been  a  great  deal  of  skill  among  the  artisans.  Skilled 
mechanics  were  needed  to  make  all  the  armor  of  those  war- 
like times.  During  the  reign  of  Numa  Pompilius  which 
lasted  thirty-nine  years  the  trade  unions  must  have  made 
grt-at  advancement.1  Indeed,  considering  the  harsh  treat- 
ment they  afterwards  received  at  the  hands  of  the  Roman 
emperors  in  later  years,  beginning  B.  C.  58,  we  are  left  to  in- 
fer that  for  nearly  700  years  of  the  best  life  of  Rome  these 
labor  organizations  flourished  uninterruptedly.8  According 
to  Plutarch,  this  ancient  king  so  favored  the  idea  of  labor 
organizations  that  he  made  their  particular  case  the  very 
basis  of  a  great  reform.  Plutarch  tells  ns  that  he  closed 
the  temple  of  Janus  tor  forty-three  years,9  and  all  this  time 
there  was  perpetual  peace.  The  working  people  are  known 

5  Mommsen,  De  Coll.  et  Sodal.  Rum,,  p.  78,  says:    Tho  relics  of  innumerable 
communal  associations  of  ancient  times,  are  seen  scattered  all  through  Italy,  as 
found  among  the  inscriptions  of  the  Italian  towns.    See  also  Plutarch's  Life  of 
Kuma,  much  quoted  by  writers. 

6  Pliny,  Naturalis  Historia,  XXXIV.  1.     ".Eqnalem  TTrbi  auctoritatem    ejus 
declarat,  a  rege  Numa  Collegio  tertio  aerariorum  fabmm  institute. ''     Again 
XXXV.  12.    "  Numa  rex  septimum  collegium  flgnlomm  insfatuit." 

"  Dirksen,  Zwolf  Tafeki,  says;  '•  Der  romische  Staat  yergonnte  ursprling- 
lich  lediglich  den  Gewerben,  die  den  Bediirfnissen  des  Krieges  nnd  des  gottes- 
dienstes  zunachst  frohnten,  seinen  unmittelbaren  Schutz  und  eine  selbstandige 
Communalverfassnng.'' 

3  Mommsen,  De  Coll.  et  Sodal.  Rom  p.  33.  "Jos  coeundi  fuit  antiquis  tem- 
poribus  omnibus  concessum." 

9  Pint.,  Numa.  and  Lycurgus  compared.  "  The  primary  view  of  Numa's  gov- 
ernment which  was  to  settle  the  Romans  in  lasting  peace  and  tranquility,  im- 
mediately vanished  with  him  ;  for  alter  his  death,  the  temple  of  Janus,  which 
he  had  kept  shut  as  if  it  had  really  held  war  in  prison  and  subjection,  was  set  wide 
open,  and  Italy  was  filled  with  blood." 


336  ORGANIZA  TJON. 

to  have  had  their  golden  era  during  the  reign  of  this  great 
lawgiver.10  If  for  no  other  reason  than  this,  the  reign  of 
Numa  Pompilius  must  ever  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
valuable,  and  fraught  with  richest  lessons  to  the  human  race. 
It  is  true  that  this  is  not  so  considered  fo  v  students  of  history 
from  a  standpoint  of  great  historic  events,  or  of  religion  and 
philosophy  as  ordinarily  understood  ,  but  the  student  of 
history  from  the  purely  sociological  basis  may  justly  regard 
this  reign  as  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  world.  We  are  at  a 
loss  to  understand  how  Plutarch,  with  his  clear  mind  and 
honest  motives,  could  have  compared  Numa  with  Lycurgus. 
But  Plutarch  was  not  a  socialist.  He  did  not  understand 
the  immense  world  of  meaning  rolled  up  in  the  mystic  deeds 
of  Numa,  whose  reign,  had  it  proved  a  failure,  he  himself 
would  not  have  praised. 

But  Numa's  reign  was  by  no  means  a  failure.  It  was  a 
decided  departure  from  the  customs  of  those  ancient  days, 
because  it  completely  discountenanced  the  warlike  ambi- 
tions of  other  rulers  and  cultivated  the  arts  of  peace.  Ta 
carry  out  fuch  a  policy  it  was  necessary  to  have  industry 
made  respectable  and  stand  boldly  to  the  front,  and  be  in 
every  way  protected. 

But  the  trades  were  already  organized.  He  did  not  or- 
ganize them  that  we  know  of,  but  simply  accorded  them 
free  privileges  to  organize  themselves.  He  classed  his  peo- 
ple of  all  grades  by  a  method  of  his  own  and  in  that  classi- 
fication made  a  place  for  the  workers  whom  he  was  wise 
and  manly  enough  to  recognize.  Before  the  time  of  Numa 
the  working  people  had  never  been  recognized  that  we  are 
aware  of.  His  distribution  of  the  entire  industrial  class 
into  eight  or  nine  grand  divisions  or  trades,11  does  not  prob- 
ably imply  that  there  was  no  greater  variety  than  this,  but 
it  was  probably  merely  for  the  sake  of  convenience. 

We  are  not  to  suppose,  because  the  free  right  of  combi- 
nation was  given  the  working  people  by  king  Numa,  that 


"  Ef  W  TI  Si.afOfj.ri  Kara  Tas  rtxva-S,  a.v\.ifrav  (flute  players'), 


..  -,     ..  , 

(gold  workers),  TCKTOVUV  (carpenters),  /3o4«eW  (dyers),  aicvroroniav  (shoemakers), 
iritvToie^uiv  (tanners  and  curriers),  \a\Ki<ov  (braziers),  icepa/iieW  i  potters),  ras  5* 
Aoiira?  Tfxvas  eis  TOUTO  avvayayiav  iv  avriuv  e«  iraaiav  aireietfe  <rv<m]iJ.a.."  (Plat. 

Nam.  17). 

11  Moramsen,  idem,  p.  29.  Hsoc  si  expendimns,  videmus  Plutarchum  -for- 
tasse  etiam  Florum  totum  populum  Don  opiflces  tantum  in  IX  classes  distribnere, 
quod  etsi  absurdum  est,  notandum  tamen,  cum  inde  nonum  collegium  orUim 
p««e  videatur.  " 


TRADE  UNION  LAW  Ob'  THE  XII    TABLES.      337 

this 'carried  with-it  all  the  immunities  belonging  to  other 
people.  Caste  remained.  They  were  still  looked  upon  as 
degraded  creatures.  It  was  for  the  Christian  era  to  declare 
the  absolute  equality  of  men.  But  this  right  of  free  com- 
bination, jus  coeundi,  was  certainly  used  to  an  enormous 
extent  as  a  means  of  working  up  a  state  of  things  and  a 
spirit  of  freedom  or  self-constituted  public  opinion  among 
working  people,  fitting  them  by  slow  degrees,  to  consider 
themselves  equal  to  others.  The  right  of  combination 
during  this  remarkable  reign,  having  been  prominently 
and  thoroughly  established,  it  remained  so  for  over  600 
years;  and  we  are  told  explicitly  that  no  interruption  oc- 
curred until  58  years  before  Christ,  for  both  the  efforts 
of  Claudius  and  Tarquin  to  suppress  them  entirely  failed. 
At  that  date  much  of  the  outcast  and  industrial  popula- 
tion of  Rome  had  become  well  organized  and  workingmen 
were,  as  we  shall  see,  beginning  to  exercise  a  powerful 
political  influence.  They  had  been  violently  attacked  by 
Cicero  and  other  proud  aristocrats  and  nobly  and  success- 
fully defended  by  Clodius  and  a  number  of  other  Roman 
officers  of  high  rank;  and  a  fierce  and  terrible  hatred  at- 
tended with  clearly  discernible  political  manoeuvres,  was 
growing  into  an  issue  on  the  advent  of  the  Caesars. 

Lord  Mackenzie ia  says  that  "  the  earliest  legislation 
deserving  of  notice  was  the  celebrated  code  of  laws  called 
the  Twelve  Tables."  Yet  so  far  as  the  creatment  of  our 
special  subject — that  of  the  strictly  laboring  people  — is 
concerned,  these  were  but  the  simple  recording  of  the  old 
rales  of  Xuma  Pompilius  and  of  Solon.  In  our  opinion 
Numa  ha  1  borrowed  his  notions  regarding  the  organiza- 
tion oi  the  working  population  mostly  from  the  then 
existing  state  of  labor  organization  in  Egypt,  Asia  Minor 
and  Attica.13  We  have  repeatedly  shown  every  develop- 
ment among  them  to  have  been  a  traceable  growth. 
Monarchs  and  lawgivers  when  clothed  with  power  could 
arrange  these  habits  of  their  subjects  into  words  and  forms 
but  the  people  themselves  had  already  been  using  them 
from  immemorial  times. 

Solon,  as  early  as  B.  C.  580  established  laws  permitting 

11  Roman  Law,  pp.  5-8. 

is  Gains,  XII.    Tables  explained  by  Dirksen.  Mom.  dtcoll.  etc.,  p.  30.    "Not- 
abilig  eat  hoc  loco  lex  Soloniu,  ex  qua  sacra  civiliaque  commucin  etc." 


B38  TRADE  ORGANIZATION. 

laboring  people  to  organize;  and  made  it  compulsory 
upon  boys  to  learn  a  trade.14  If  the  father  of  a  family  of 
working  people  neglected  to  do  this  he  could  not  compel 
his  sons  to  support  him  in  his  old  age.  Both  Solon  and 
Numa  legalized  the  organizations  of  working  people  and 
gave  them  the  full  right  of  combination.  Lycurgus,  on 
the  contrary,"  as  we  have  seen,  wanted  no  emancipated 
slaves.  He  was  an  upholder  of  military  despotism.  All 
labor  being  a  degraded  and  disgraceful  entailment,  must, 
under  the  laws  of  Lycurgus  be  performed  by  the  abject, 
groveling  slaves.  Thus  in  the  Peloponnesus,  trade  unions 
got  no  encouragement  whatever,  which  accounts  for  the 
paucity  of  stone  tablets  found  in  lower  Greece,  bearing 
inscriptions  commemorative  of  the  labor  unions.  North- 
ern Greece,  the  islands,  Asia  Minor  and  Italy,  on  the  con- 
trary, abound  in  these  suggestive  mementos  of  ancient 
labor  organization,  an  account  of  which  the  historians  of 
those  periods  have  sedulously  left  barren. 

All  this  proves  that  while  labor  was  grudgingly  toler- 
ated as  a  necessary  means  of  life  to  the  gentile  classes  of 
both  Greece  and  Home,  it  was  never  recognized  by  either 
as  respectable  or  hardly  decent ;  if  we  except  that  of  agri- 
culture and  the  nearest  it  ever  came  to  any  recognition 
was  during  the  wise  and  happy  reign  of  king  Numa  Pom- 
pilius  who  extended  every  encouragement  to  its  organi- 
zation and  died  leaving  it  a  veritably  abiding  institution 
as  his  laws  intended. 

He  actually  took  salient  and  very  suggestive  steps 
toward  filling  up  the  social  gap  separating  the  high-borns 
from  the  low-boms  of  Rome.  He  instituted  that  at  the 
Saturnalian  feasts  which  occurred  every  December  as  a 
harvest  thanksgiving  or  carnival,  all  ranks  of  a  social  char- 
acter should  be  forgotten ;  that  figuratively  no  slave,  no 
social  distinction,  no  arrogance  should  exist.  Thus  labor, 
for  a  moment  each  year,  was  raised  up  and  the  social  ar- 
rogance of  wealth  and  birth  leveled  down,  to  a  par  with 
each  other.  But  it  must  not  for  a  moment  be  imagined 
that  the  working  people  of  either  Greece  or  Rome  ever 

14  Pint.  Solon;  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  cap.  177,  gives  ns  a  hint  makinp  it  prob- 
able that  trade  unionism  existed  in  Egypt  in  the  time  of  Amasis  who  upheld  it : 

"  Nd/iov  Se  Aryv7TT4Oi<ri  TovSe'A/uacris  eerri  6  xaTaaTJJcras'  airo&CiKvvva.i,  eTfos  eKaarou 
To"  KojJapXT?  itdvTa  Tiva,  AiynrTtcui',  otiv  /SiouTai-  ^.i)  Si  irotevvra  raOra,  firjSe  arro<j><ii- 
vovra.  &iica.ii)V  £6r)f,  i6vvt(ria.i  6a.va.Tta. 

is  Plat.  Lycnrgu?  and  Numa  compared. 


THE    WRITTEN  LAW.  339 

nrose  to  be  considered  by  the  gens,  or  patrician  stock  as 
anything  more  than  plebians  who  were  outcasts  by  birth, 
and  though  often  the  children  of  patrician  fathers,  yet 
through  the  ancient  religio-political  law  of  primogeniture, 
or  the  sacred  law  of  inheritance,  were  relegated  into  bond- 
age whence  they  never  escaped  except  through  gradual 
development  by  manumissions,  and  finally  through  the 
mighty  all-levelling  proclamations  of  Jesus  which  theoret- 
ically and  at  last  practically  overthrew  every  distinction. 

But  we  shall  more  elaborately  treat  this  grand  and  ex- 
traordinary episode  in  human  development  in  our  sketch 
of  Jesus,  from  a  business-like  or  secular  point  of  consider- 
ation, as  a  subject  of  inquiry  into  sociological  phenomena. 

We  now  return  to  Lord  Mackenzie's  statement  that  "  by 
the  decernviral  code  " — meaning  the  Twelve  Tables — "  the 
plebeians  gained  a  considerable  step  toward  the  adjust- 
ment of  their  differences  with  the  patricians,  but  it  was 
nearly  80  years  before  these  differences  were  settled  by 
the  admission  of  the  plebeians  to  the  supreme  offices  of 
the  state." 16 

In  the  first  place,  this  "considerable  step  toward  the 
adjustment  of  differences  "  was  taken  under  king  Numa, 
118  years  before  the  Twelve  Tables  were  engraved  upon 
the  slabs.  In  the  second,  the  very  first  decemvirs  were 
composed  of  such  tyrannical  usurpers  and  aristocrats  as 
Appius  Claudius,  who,  although  they  had  the  laws  adjust- 
ing the  differences  between  patricians  and  plebians  en- 
graved upon  eleven  Tables,  yet  they  prevented  the  latter 
from  realizing  their  benefits.  Another  thing  must  be  con- 
tinually borne  in  mind,  that  under  the  sway  of  the  Pagan 
or  competitive  religion,  which  was  the  foundation  of  law 
and  social  order,  any  absolute  equality  between  patricians 
and  plebians  was  impossible  from  beginning  to  end;  and 
no  assertion  that  the  adjustment  of  differences  was  ever 
gained  by  any  means  can  be  considered  correct.  The  dif- 
ference between  them  always  remained;  but  under  the 
gracious  adjustment  of  Numa  and  of  Solon,  afterwards 
inscribed  in  Latin  from  a  Greek  translation,  in  a  formal 
law  upon  the  Twelve  Tables  at  Rome,  the  right  of  organ- 
ization first  came  to  the  freedmen,  in  letters.  Nor  does 
this  right  of  organization  apply  to  the  slaves,  who  still 

16  Mackenzie,  Roman  Law,  p  7. 


340  ORGANIZATION. 

existed  in  great  numbers.  On  the  contrary  we  show,  in 
our  sketch  of  Spartacus  and  repeatedly  elsewhere,  that 
the  rapacity  of  the  Roman  lords  and  middlemen  finally 
became  so  great  that  they  bought  up  slaves,  redoubled 
their  numbers,  encroached  upon  the  common  farm  lands 
and  upon  manufactures  with  cheap  slave  labor,  each  own- 
ing great  numbers  of  slaves,17  and  finally  under  Caesar, 
succeeded  in  procuring  conspiracy  laws  which  suppressed 
the  trade  and  many  other  species  of  organization,  open- 
ing the  way  by  sheer  aggravations,  for  the  advent  of  a 
completely  new  order  of  things  in  the  repudiation  of 
paganism  entirely,  and  the  embrace,  mostly  by  these 
wretched  slaves  and  persecuted  freedmen,  of  a  totally  new 
religion  which  built  upon  the  workingmen's  fundamental 
principle  that  all  are  born  free  and  equal. 

Thus  it  becomes  evident  that  writers  who  speak  of  the 
three  forms  of  Roman  law  afterwards  known  as  the  leges 
populi,  the  plebiscita  and  the  senatus  consulti,  must,  if  from 
a  standpoint  of  social  science,  be  very  careful  not  to  count 
the  two-thirds  of  the  entire  Roman  population,  who  were 
abject  slaves,18  enjoying  neither  freedom,  respect,  right  of 
resistance  or  organization  whatsoever. 

The  .oreat  trade  organization  received  their  first  serious 
blow  thro  igh  the  law  which  suppressed  open  work  and 
drove  ttiem  into  secret  conclave,  counter  manoeuvres  and 
diplomacy.  We  have  said  that  historians  carefully  avoided 
any  mention  of  these  troubles.  This  is  true ;  but  the  labor 
turmoils  open  to  the  students  of  sociology  the  true  mean- 
ing of  certain  slurs  occurring  in  the  speeches  and  epistles 
of  Cicero  and  others,  the  import  of  which  can  be  explained 
in  no  other  way.19  We  must  constantly  hold  uppermost  the 

17  Crassus  owned  500  slaves,  see  Pint.  Crassus,  2.  C.  Callus  Claudius  owned 
according  to  Pliny,  no  fewer  than  4,116  at  a  time,  ".  .  .  .  quamvig  multa  civili 
bello  perdidisset,  tamen  relinquere  servorum  quatnor  millia  centum  eedecim." 
Nat.  Hist,  XXXIII.  47.  Great  numbers  of  slaves  existed  in  antiquity.  See  Wal- 
lace. Numbers  of  Mankind,  p.  54,  sq.  Immense  population  during  the  giave  era, 
pp.  294-303.  Also  pp.91  and  97;  Athenseus  V.  20.  Ancient  Census  and  re- 
marks  of  Hume,  Ancient  Populousnett  declaring  that  Athenoeus  docs  not  reckon 
the  children.  Emilias  Panlus  after  the  battle  of  Pydna,  B.  C.  167,  destroyed 
70  cities  of  Epirus  taking  the  value  of  10,000,000  dollars  in  gold  and  160,000  peo- 
ple as  war-slaves  to  Rome  and  the  provinces,  Wallace  p.  300  and  Livy,  XLV,  c. 
14.  See  Seneca,  De  Tranquilitate,  8 ;  Vast  numbers  in  Crete  see  Lippincotr, 
Pronouncing  Gazetteer  of  the  World,  art.  Crete.  They  were  mostly  slaves  and  freed- 
men: Plato  Laws  vii.  11.  Countless  Myriads  of  Women  they  call  Sauromatides. 

»  Cf.  Wallace.^umfter*  of  Mankind,  p .  61.    T,iv.  lib.  6,  cap.  12. 

is  Cicero,  Pro  Sesto,  25 :  "  Collegia  non  modo  ilia  vetera  contra  SO.  restitu- 
erentur  sed  ab  uno  gladiatore  innnmerabilia  alia  nova  conecriberentur."  Thit 


THE  ANCIENT   COLLEGIUM.  341 

causes  of  the  Christian  idea  skipping  southern  Greece  in 
its  westward  course  and  planting  itself  at  Rome  and  every- 
where among  the  already  existing  communes,  with  a  view 
of  determining  a  solution  to  this  phenomenon  in  the  great 
social  field  already  prepared  there  by  these  organizations. 

King  Numa  by  no  means  originated  the  union  of  the 
trades  at  Rome.  He  simply  permitted  and  encouraged 
what  already  existed.  We  now  proceed  to  give  some  facts 
in  regard  to  them.  Although  the  king  distributed  the 
working  people  into  eight  or  nine  classes  we  are  not  to 
suppose  that  there  was  no  greater  variety  of  handicraft  in 
his  time.  There  are  still  extant  slabs  and  stones  found  in 
different  places  in  Italy,  notably  at  Rome  and  what  were 
ancient  towns  and  cities  south  and  east  of  Rome,  bearing 
inscriptions  which  indicate  that  large  numbers  of  trades 
were  plied  in  very  ancient  times. 

The  Collegium  a  veritable  trade  union  was  originally  an 
organization  of  working  people  for  mutual  aid  and  protec- 
tion. During  the  39,  or  as  Plutarch  puts  it,  43  years  of 
Numa's  reign  we  hear  of  no  contortion  or  prevarication 
of  this  word  from  that  correct  and  original  sense.  But 
after  his  death,  when  the  temple  of  Janus  was  reopened 
and  wars  and  their  harvests  of  brutality  and  repression 
disturbed  the  serenity  of  labor  making  the  mechanics  watch- 
ful of  their  interests,  they  somewhat  changed  their  out- 
ward appearance  but  not  their  character.  For  instance, 
a  trade  union  of  to-day  is  often  a  protective,  an  insurance 
and  a  burial  society.  So  it  was  then;  but  amid  the  tur- 
moils, suspicions  and  dangers  of  war  it  often  became 
convenient,  in  order  to  suit  appearances  to  be  exclusively 
religious.  The  Pagan  religion  was  at  that  time  popular. 
Each  of  the  great  popular,  aristocratic  families  or  gens 
had  a  tutelary  saint  or  other  object  of  worship,  and  it 
was  very  convenient  for  the  trade  union  to  dedicate  itself 
to  one  of  these  tutelary  deities;  not  only  to  elicit  favor 
from  the  great  patrons  but  also  because  they  were  them- 
selves religiously  inclined.  Thus  the  colleges,  although 
they  maintained  their  practical  economic  or  trade  union 
object  of  mutual  advantage  in  a  business  sense,  often 
passed  for  religious  institutions;  and  we  have  abundant 

flin?  was  probably  hurled  at  riodius  with  a  bitter  reference  to  Spartacus.    Cl. 
•ketch  of  Spartacus,  chapter  XI  . 


342  ORGANIZATION. 

evidence  of  this,  not  in  the  written  histories  but  in  the 
inscriptions  which  now  begin  to  exhibit  in  a  new  and  sig- 
nificant manner,  their  character  and  career. 

The  ancient  collegia  or  working  people's  fraternities  in 
Italy  were  not  confined  to  the  male  sex.  In  later  eras  of 
the  empire  they  existed  in  great  numbers  as  the  inscrip- 
tions show.  Some  of  them  were  composed  partly,  and  a 
few  are  known  to  have  been  composed  entirely  of  women. 

The  learned  archaeologist,  Johann  Casper  Orelli,  has  de- 
voted 89  octavo  Latin  pages ao  to  the  enumeration  of  a  col- 
lection of  stone  inscription-bearing  tablets  on  which  in 
ancient  days,  were  engraved  the  wills  of  the  deceased,  the 
tutelary  gods  worshipped  by  the  members,  sometimes 
even  the  manner  in  which  they  came  to  their  death,  the 
degree  of  conjugal  affection  in  which  they  had  mutually 
lived  together  and  many  other  little  particulars  shedding 
important  and  interesting  light  upon  their  mode  of  liv- 
ing21 in  those  ancient  days — events  left  almost  totally 
blank  on  the  pages  of  history. 

Gruter,  another  archaeologist  of  great  patience  and 
erudition,  has  given  us  an  immense  collection  M  of  ancient 
inscriptions,  many  of  which  are  accompanied  by  his  own 
readings;  thus  laying  the  foundations  for  simplifying  the 
keys  to  the  study  of  sociology,  and  enriching  the  mind  by 
a  knowledge  of  ancient  customs. 

The  archaeological  works  of  Raffaello  Fabretti  have  also 
furnished  us  a  large  amount  of  material,  while  Theodore 
Mommsen  has  applied  his  usual  care  and  judgment  in 
making  clear  much  of  that  which  otherwise  we  might  have 
overlooked. 

The  colteginm  fimtrariian  was  the  burial  society.  After 
gathering  all  the  information  at  our  command,  we  are  con- 
strained to  conclude  that  it  much  resembled  the  great 
system  of  friendly  or  burial  societies  of  Great  Britain  at 
the  present  day.  They  existed  in  large  numbers,  especi- 
ally at  Rome ;  and  in  later  times,  after  the  passage  of  the 
laws  of  repression  they  were  mostly  exempt,  because  re- 
ligious. Of  this  we  shall  speak  later. 

20  Orellius,  Incriptionum  Latinarum  Select*rum  Amplii&ima  CoVutio,  pp.  274- 
860  of  Vol.  II.  Sepulcralia, 

«  No  4,352  Orell.  reads :  "  Numisinre  conjqgi  castiesimoe  et  incomparabil) 
adfectione  femimae  cum  qua  visit  ann.  XVII.,  Jftns.  XI.,  D  eb.  XVII." 

**  Gruterius,  Intcnptionet  Antiquae  Totius  OrHtRomanorum. 


SOURCES   OF  INFORMATION.  343 

From  the  prodigious  labors  of  Muratori  we  also  obtain 
several  valuable  contributions,23  especially  so  on  account 
of  examples  he  gives,  of  genuine  trade  unions,  inscriptions 
of  which  he  took  from  Cis- Alpine  Gaul,  that  were  written 
early  in  the  Christian  era. 

Rose,  a  learned  Greek  scholar  u  and  antiquarian,  wrote 
a  work  from  which  we  find  much  evidence  in  support  of 
our  theme,  especially  regarding  the  high  status  in  skill  of 
workmen  in  ancient  days ;  and  the  splendid  work  of  Guhl 
and  Koner  entitled  "The  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans," 
fortunately  well  translated  into  English  further  intensi- 
fies our  wonder  at  the  high  perfection  to  which  the  labor 
of  antiquity  had  brought  the  arts  and  architecture. 

From  the  analytical  works  of  August  Bockh,  we  have 
deduced  considerable,  proving  that  the  organizations  of  the 
proletaries  were  by  no  means  confined  to  Italy.26  If  Cicero 
could  say  they  were  "  innumerable  in  all  Italy,"  Athe- 
nagaros  might  also  have  said  they  were  equally  abundant 
throughout  the  peninsula  of  Greece  and  the  Ionian  Isles. 
The  writers  we  refer  to  find  tablets  of  stone  in  all  these 
countries,  some  of  them,  excusably  enough,  engraved  with 
words  often  wrongly  spelled,  sometims  in  words  suggest- 
ive of  the  prevailing  lingo,  perhaps  even  slang  language 
which  slaves  and  their  descendants,  the  freedmen,  almost 
always  without  education,  would  naturally  make  use  of, 
which  is  of  itself  exceedingly  interesting,  bringing  the 
working  people  of  ancient  Rome,  Greece  and  Asia  freshly 
down  to  us,  as  it  were,  in  their  work  clothes,  their  tools  in 
hand,  and  their  careless  vernacular  exactly  as  used  in 
every  day  life. 

In  announcing  our  remarks  on  the  ancient  Sepidcralia 
or  burial  societies,  we  cannot  do  better  than  refer  to  the 
popular  scientific  research  on  the  origin  of  the  plebians, 
by  Prof.  Fustel  de  Coulanges.  This  author,  while  not  ap- 
pearing to  understand  that  they  might  have  been  partly 
derived  from  the  outcasts  of  the  patrician  family,  rele- 
gated by  the  paterfamilias  into  slavery,  admits  fully  as 
much.26  Every  student  of  the  facts  recognizes  that  the 

**  Mnratoios,  Anlfqwitates  Italics,  Medii  ^Evi,  6  vols.  Milan,  1,744. 

*<  Rose,  Infnptiones  Grceae  Vetuslisnrnce . 

2s  Bockh,  Corpus  Inscripttcmum  Grcecarum,  3  vois   Berlin,  1853,  folio. 

'  Nous  sonimes  pourtant  frappede  voirdan*  Tite-Live.  qni  connaisgait' les 
vieiiles  traditions,  que  le»  patricu-ns  reprochaieiit  anx  plebeiene  nun  pa?  d  4tre 
isens  des  pOp«ltttoM  \aintucs  ma:g  de  niauquer  de  religion  et  meme  de  famiiie. 


344  ORGANIZATION. 

great  plebeian  class  of  the  ancient  population  was  origin- 
ally derived  from  the  outcasts  of  the  family  and  that  they 
were,  as  a  religio-political  consequence,  without  a  religion, 
without  a  home,  without  even  a  recognition  or  count  among 
the  citizen  population 27  and  without  marriage  rites.  They 
were  consequently  all  illegitimates.28  These  are  stupend- 
ous facts,  little  understood  by  people  of  this  day. 

These  were  great  grievances  which  they  had  to  bear. 
They  built  up  among  themselves  a  religion  of  their  own, 
had  secret  organizations  and  burial  societies  which  often 
served  as  a  shield  to  their  trade  unions,  from  the  law.w 
They  were  regarded  by  Cicero  as  wild  beasts ;  *°  and  he 
invariably  speaks  of  the  organized  proletaries  with  scath- 
ing contempt.  Just  after  the  death  of  Spartacus,  while 
the  senate  was  endeavoring  to  pass  a  law  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  labor  organizations,  Claudius  Pulcher,  who  to 
"  curry  favor  with  the  plebeians,"  "  changed  his  name  to 
Clodius,  and  boldly  came  to  the  front  in  defense  of  the 
labor  unions.  In  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of  Cicero  against 
him  Clodius  actually  succeeded  not  only  in  preventing 
the  passage  of  restrictive  laws  against  the  trade  and  other 
organizations,  but  secured  the  enactment  of  several  others, 
greatly  favoring  the  proletaries  who  had  been  covertly 
using  their  secret  burial  societies  and  mutual  aid  com- 
munes as  organizations  of  resistance.  Cicero  was  greatly 

Or,  ce  reproche  qni  etait  deja  immerite  au  temps  de  Licinius  Stolon  et  que  lea 
contemporains  de  Tite-Live,  comprenaient  a  peine,  devait  remonter  a  une  epoque 
tres  ancienue  et  nous  reporte  aux  premiers  temps  de  la  cite."  (Fustel  de  Cou- 
langes,  Cite  Antique,  p.  278). 

2?  La  Cite  Antique,  p.  322:  ••  Les  homines  de  la  classe  inferieure  forinerent 
entre  eux  un  corps,"  and  again  p.  278:  "Le  peuple  comprenait  les  patriciens  et 
ieure  clients;  la  plebs  etait  en  dehor." 

28  Idtm,  p.  278-9:  "  C'  Stair,  renoncer  a  nne  religion.  Ajouton?  encore1  quo 
le  flls  n«  d'  un  marriage  sans  rites,  etait  repute  batard,  comuie  celui  qui  eta  t  n6 
de  1'ndnltere,  et  la  religion  doinestique  n'  existait  pas  pour  enx."  So  with  the 
ancients  religion  and  citizenship  were  one  and  the  same  thing. 

•M  Moraiuaen,  De  Colleglis  et  Sodalicus  Romanorum,  p.  4.  "  Tanta  vero  fuit 
eodalitatis  religio,  ut  publicis  etiam  legibus  sodales  prohiberentur,  quominus 
earn  laederent." 

so  '•  fera  qnaedain  ?oda!itas  et  plane  pastoritia  atque  agrestis  Germanorum 
lupercorum:  quorum  coitio  ilia  sylvestris  ante  est  instituta,  quarn  humanitas 
aique  leg«-s. "  Cicero,  Pro  Marco  Coelio,  11. 

«  See  American  Encyclnpcedie,  Article  Clodius.  Were  it  not  that  this  article 
wa»  written  in  the  same  spirit  of  arisiocratic  bias  of  patrician  history,  it  would, 
have  to  be  pronounced  by  the  student  of  sociology  as  scurrilous.  The  truth  is. 
Clodius  was  at  heart,  a  noble,  wise  and  exceedingly  able  tribune  He  was  one 
of  those  in  the  army  of  Lucullns.  who  took  part  in  the  suppression  of  Spartacus. 
After  his  overthrow  6,000  of  the  proletaries  were  brutally  crucified  on  the  Ap- 
pian  way  lining  that  avenue  fo:  miles  with  this  horrid  spectacle  From  that  time 
Clodius  was  the  staunch  lawyer  ol  organized  labor. 


CICERO    I'tiE    WORKWOMAN'S  FOE.  345 

incensed  at  this.31  It  is  clear  that  Cicero,  who  was  intensely 
aristocratic,  drew  down  upon  him,  in  his  prodigious  de- 
fense of  the  gentes  and  the  correspondingly  aggravating 
raillery  against  the  organized  workers,  the  hatred  and  re- 
venge of  the  laboring  element  of  Rome,  who,  driven  to 
straits,  took  up  the  political  issue  and  even  took  up  arms. 
These  studies  are  exceedingly  interesting,  inasmuch  as 
they  reveal  to  us  that  Rome  at  that  time  —  less  than  100 
years  before  Christ,  was  very  populous,  that  much  the 
larger  share  of  her  population  consisted  of  the  proletaries 
"both  slaves  and  freedmen,  and  that  the  freedmen  and  some 
of  the  slaves  were  organized;  and  finally  that  this  organi- 
zation, whether  in  shape  of  burial  or  of  trade  unions,  was 
the  cause  of  political  contention,  which  grew  rapidly  into 
vast  commotions  and  a  civil  duel  between  the  gentiles  and 
the  proletaries.  Cicero,  the  mortal  foe  of  the  latter,  was 
constantly  inveighing  against  them  **  until  his  death.  In 
fact,  it  will  be  easily  shown  that  the  great  orator  came  to 
his  death  directly  in  consequence  of  his  bitter  complicity 
in  these  labor  convulsions,  always  taking  sides  against  them. 
A  curious  fact  is  observed,  in  looking  over  Orelli  and 
Gruter's  li^t  of  inscriptions  of  the  burial  societies,  show- 
ing that  among  the  poorest  the  practice  of  cremation  was 
common.  The  order  had  niches  or  recesses  attached  to 
the  grounds  frequented  by  them  for  their  meetings;  and 
being  too  poor,  in  fact  disallowed  the  noble  rite  of  burial 
and  its  attendant  family  worship,  they  were  obliged  to 
burn  the  bodies  of  the  deceased  and  preserve  their  ashes 
in  pots  called  ollx  cinerarise.*4  The  poor  fellows,  having 
no  religion  of  their  own,  denied  that  honor  by  the  privi- 
leged classes  who  lived  upon  thoir  labor,  and  often  being 


ic.,  Pro  Stxlo  We  render  as  follows:  '-This  Clodins  has  chosen  this 
name  instead  of  Aiirelius  for  Iii<  tribunal  labors  to  curry  favor  with  the  organ- 
ized skves  -  men  enlisted  from  the  streets  arranged  in  companies,  cheered  on  by 
his  moral  stimulus  to  arms,  to  pillage." 

'«  Mommsen  say?:  "  Compluribus  locis  Cicero  invehitnr  in  P.  Clodium  resti- 
tntntis  lege  sua  collegiis  ann.  58  ante  Christ,  nova  collegia  ordinantem.  "  (Dt 
Coll,  at  Sodal.  Rom.  p  57.  , 

3»  Fg.  Orelli.  Inner.  No.  4.358  ff'-piilcrrtlia.  read*  :  »•  D  M.  M.  Herenning  a 
plowing"  and  Herennia  Lacenn  writ  *n  in  t-eir  srn's  own  handwriting.  The 
pot  coit-ining  the  a?hes  st-nds  on  left  side  of  tha  monument,"  etc.,  etc.  So 
i.gain  •  an;  and  Koner.  Life  of  liic  •  ix-eks  and  ,..>ruans,  pp.  378-9,  figs  401, 
402  and  o'hers  with  descriptions.  These  represent  the  celebrated  Comlumbaria 
Of  which  Gorius  wrote  »n  elaborate  work,  illustrated  with  engravings.  Fig.  402 
snows  not  only  the  niches  in  which  stand  to  this  day  the  cinerary  nrn«,  bnt  also 
I  he  urns  themselves.  One  col'imbarium,  th  i  Viyna  Codina.  has  425  such  r.'.ches  in 
nine  rows,  p  479  A  smal!  marble  over  each  urn  gives  the  name  .  These  are 
•.he  burial  places  (see  p.  377  )  of  the  slaves  and  frecdmen. 


346  ORGANIZATION. 

of  the  same  original  stock  and  consequently  of  religious 
tendency,  were  in  the  habit  of  borrowing  i'rom  the  yens 
families  some  tutelary  deity  in  whose  name  to  worship. 
This,  it  appears,  they  had  always  maintained  the  right  to 
do.  When  Christianity  came  a  few  years  afterwards,  with 
its  new  and  absolutely  democratic  religion  and  its  mutual 
co-operation  more  nearly  fitted  to  their  case,  they  em- 
braced it  in  great  numbers. 

Mommsen  mentions  some  regulations  in  the  laws  gov- 
erning the  burial  societies;  among  others  is  one  against 
suicide.36  It  was  a  law  for  preventing  suicide  by  appeal- 
ing to  their  pride  in  a  decent  burial ;  and  prohibited  any 
money  being  taken  from  the  communal  fund  wherewith 
to  defray  the  funeral  expenses  of  the  suicide. 

After  the  passage  of  the  conspiracy  laws,  B.  C.  58,  the 
unions  continued  to  exercise  their  wonted  habits  in  defi- 
ance of  the  laws  of  suppression.  Two  causes  lie  at  the 
base  of  this  fact;  there  were  by  this  time  wealthy  business 
men  in  the  organizations  who  controlled  social  and  polit- 
ical influence,  although  themselves  of  plebeian  stock. 
This  is  one  cause.  Another  is,  that  the  organizations, 
when  they  felt  the  knife  of  persecution,  withdrew  them- 
selves from  public  view  and  became  intensely  secret. 
Where  the  organizations  were  for  religious  purposes  they 
were  not  suppressed;  but  there  was  a  special  regulation 
fixing  it  so  that  they  could  simulate,  or  use  religion  as  a 
cloak.86  It  is  very  unfortunate  that  the  ancient  laws  of  the 
Twelve  Tables  were  not  preserved  so  as  to  have  come 
down  to  us  as  engraved.  They  are  known  to  have  been 
placed  in  the  most  conspicuous  part  of  the  Roman  forum. 
It  was  the  oldest  of  the  three  written  systems  of  Roman 
Law"  having  been  established  B.  C.  452.  It  is,  moreover, 
now  supposed  to  have  been  almost  identical  with  the 
Greek  law;  the  provisions,  so  far  as  the  labor  communes 
are  concerned,  being  alike  for  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
It  appeared  to  Gams  to  be  a  translation,  and  seems  to  have 

ss  Item  placnit,  quiequls  ex  quacnmque  causa  mortem  sibi  adsciverit,  ejns 
ratio  funeris  non  habebitur."  (De  Coll,  and  Sodal.  Rom.  p.  100.) 

36  Mommsen,  Idem,  p.  87;  "Ipsa  ilia  simulata  religio  senatum  promovit  ut 
jus  coeundi  tollerat."  The  clause  of  the  law  appears  to  except  or  exempt  those 
aged  associations  known  to  be  beyond  suspicion  :  "  Sub  prsetextu  rdigionis  veJ 
sub  specie  solvendi  voti  coatus  illicitos  nee  a  veteranis  tentari  oporlet."  (Lev  '^, 
Dig,  de  extr.  erim.  xlvii,  ii. 

"•"  Mackenzie,  Roman  Laws,  p.  5-7 .    ' 


BURIAL   ASSOCIATIONS.  347 

been  the  identical  law  of  Solon  who  is  known  to  have 
given  the  free  right  of  organization  to  the  proletaries  of 
Athens.38  Our  opinion  is  that  these  Tables  of  laws  favor- 
ing the  laboring  classes,  had  become  so  obnoxious  to  the 
Roman  gentes  that  they  determined  to  rid  the  forum  of  its 
presence,  thus  virtually  annulling  the  laws. 

Large  numbers  of  burial  associations  existed  and  it  is 
repeatedly  acknowledged  that  they  often  acted  as  a  shield 
to  the  real  trade  unions  under  the  garb  of  religion,  not- 
withstanding the  law.  Mommsen  describes  a  burial  soci- 
ety at  Alburnum  in  Lucania  the  notice  of  which  was  found 
inscribed  on  a  libeUus  with  some  words  spelled  wrongly : 
"Artimidorus  Apollonii,  magistercollegii  lovis  Cernani  et 
Valerius  Niconis  et  Oflas  Menofili,  quaestores  collegii  ejus- 
dem,  posito  hoc  libello  publice  testantur."  Then  follow 
the  laws  of  the  society  prescribing  the  use  of  the  common 
fund.  Mommsen,  however  remarks : **  "  It  is  clear  that 
this  mutual  relief  society  of  Ceruanus,  although  bearing 
or  holding  up  the  name  of  a  god,  was  nevertheless  insti- 
tuted, in  order  to  give  the  funeral  benefit,  collected  within 
a  certain  time  and  under  the  law,  to  the  heirs  of  the  de- 
ceased." This  means  that  under  the  semblance  of  the 
burial  society,  they  substantially  met  as  a  mutual  aid  com- 
mune— perhaps  a  trade  organization.  Again,  aside  from 
the  opinion  of  Mommsen,  always  reliable,  we  have  Ascon- 
ius  for  positive  testimony  that  frequently  the  sacred  soci- 
ties,  of  which  the  burial  societies  were  a  part,  were  sup- 
pressed on  suspicion  that  they  were  discovered  by  the 
police  to  be  engaged  in  carrying  out  the  business  of  those 
trade  or  other  organizations  on  which  the  conspiracy  law 
had  laid  its  hand.49 

38  Cf.  Granier.  Histoire  des  Classes  Ouvr&res,  p.  325.  "Nona  avon?  fait  voir 
d'  ailleare  qne  la  loi  romaine  des  Donze-T&bles  snr  lea  corporaa'ons  contenait  lea 
menu  8  dispositions  que  la  loi  grecque,  u  ce  point  qti'  elles  ont  para  a  Gains  etre 
la  tradnction  I'  unede  1*  autre."  The  words  of  Gaiua  (vide  fHgest,  lib.  XL VII, 
tit.  xxii.  \&4.  4.  will  be  found  quoted  in  o  ir  note  87,  page  1^7,  On  page  2'JO, 
note  1,  Granier  bpeaks  of  the  intimate  relations  between  Athenian  and  i»oman 
trade  unions  as  follows:  "Du  reste,  Bi  le  texte  de  flutarque  pouvait  laisser 
quelque  doute  sur  le  fait  desjurandes  nihemennes,  un  fragment  de  iiaius*-ur 
les  Uouzes  Tables,  conserve  par  le  IJigeste,  ditque  la  loi  sur  leg  corps  des  metiers 
parait  avoir  ete  enipruntee  aux  lois  de  Solon  sur  ia  meme  manure ;  et  la-deosus 
Gai;'s  cite  le  tcxte  menie  de  Ja  loi  de  Solon,  dans  lequel  11  eat  statue  que  lea 
membres  de«  metiers  peuvent  s  eriger  eux-niemes  en  corporations  en  respectaut 
lee  lois  de  I'Eiat." 

3»  .Mommsen,  De  ColUgiis  et  Seda.lia.is  Romanorum,  p.  94. 

40  ••  Frequenter  turn  etiam  ccetus  factiosorum  hom;nnm,  sine  publics  ancto- 
ritate,  malo  publico  nebant  ...  propter  qnod  postea  collegia  gaucta  ct  pluri- 
bus  legibus,  eaut  sublata."  (Ascon.  in  Cornel,  p.  75  ) 


318  ORGANIZATION. 

By  far  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  of  the  organiz- 
zations  of  proletaries  or  outcasts  among  the  ancients  were 
the  genuine  trade  unions.41  Had  it  not  been  for  the  an- 
cient habit,  probably  established  by  the  lost  law  of  the 
Twelve  Tables,  of  inscribing42  more  or  less  of  the  objects, 
dates,  names  of  leaders  or  organizers,  and  name  of  the 
tutelary  deity  under  which  they  chose  to  worship — being 
proscribed  from  the  privilege  of  worship  of  their  own — 
•we  should  be  altogether  without  data  regarding  the  vast 
trade  societies  which  from  immemorial  times  existed  in 
Greece  and  Rome  and  in  the  provinces  over  which  those 
nations  ruled.  We  have  sufficiently  explained  the  causes 
of  this  organization.  It  may  be  well,  however  to  sum 
them  up  in  this  manner: 

First  in  ancient  times  all  lands  not  belonging  to  the 
gens  estates  but  achieved  by  conquest,  were  common  pro- 
perty of  the  state.  The  people  relied  npon  the  products 
of  these  lands  for  their  subsistence.  This  was  true  of 
people  of  all  ranks,  whether  the  haughty  gentes  or  the 
degraded  slaves.  Many  subsisted  upon  the  fruits  of  the 
common  lands.  King  Numa,  admitting  this,  was  wise 
enough  to  create,  or  rather  recognize  an  already  existing 
system  of  trade  or  business-unions,  the  special  function 
of  which  was  to  till  the  lands  and  divide  and  distribute 
the  products.  Nothing  could  be  more  sensible  and  noth- 
ing more  practical  than  to  give  the  soil-tillers  their  or- ' 
ganizations  under  protection  of  the  state — and  this  means 
under  a  species  of  subvention  or  common  guarantee.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  by  a  law  of  ancient  religion 
there  were  two  distinct  classes — workers  and  non-workers 
or  the  privileged  and  the  non-privileged  classes.  They 
were  so  distinct  that  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus  declares 
that  th e  latter  were  not  even  counted  with  the  people  or  enu- 
merated in  the  census  as  human  beings;  a  fact  which  has 
caused  much  astonishment  to  the  writers  on  ancient  pop- 
ulousness;  some  counting  them  in  and  some  not;  thus 
producing  figures  so  ridiculously  at  variance  and  contra- 
dictory that  nobody  pretends  except  approximately,  even 
to  conjecture  what  the  ancient  population  was!4* 

«i  The  more  numerous  slaves  are  here  excepted. 

«  We  are,  as  yet,  without  the  words  of  the  law  rendering  It  binding  upon  the 
communes  to  set  up  and  inscribe  a  marble,  or  other  stone  slab.  It  was  probably 
lost  with  th*  Twelve  Tables.  Also  the  similar  law  of  Solon. 

«Cf.  Wallace  on  the  "Numbers  of  Mankind."    Edsiburg,   1753,  p.  287 


GOVERNMENT   OWNED    THE    LAND.  34 S> 

Thus  for  many  centuries,  the  lands  of  the  ancient  Rom- 
ans, called  ager  publicus  was  common  or  public  property, 
tilled  by  the  proletaries,  many  of  whom  were  organized 
into  unions  legalized  by  the  arrangements  of  the  Twelve 
Tables  which  was  merely  a  literal  ratification  of  the  plan 
of  Numa  Pompilius,  dividing  the  wotkers  into  nine  spe- 
cies of  craft  and  allowing  each  the  autonomy  of  an  organ- 
ization. This  shifted  from  the  shoulders  of  the  state  or 
land-owner  the  care  and  responsibility  of  cultivation,  while 
it  elevated  the  proletaries  to  the  practical  dignity  of  that 
work.  It  was  not  the  plan  of  small  holdings  by  isolated 
families  but  of  small  holdings  by  isolated  communes, 
which  in  turn,  were  amenable  to,  and  under  the  general 
direction  of  the  state,  or  common  proprietor. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  this  really  great  and  wise  system 
ever  attained  to  a  wide  extent.  The  idea  seems  to  have 
been  clear  to  the  workingmen  and  they  carried  it  into  force 
to  some  extent,  but  were  always  met  with  fierce  opposition. 
The  manner  in  which  the  state  obtained  its  share  of  the 
proceeds  or  usufruct,  of  these  lands  was  by  the  Vec- 
tigalarii,  the  celebrated  union  of  tax  collectors  who,  in- 
stead of  using  money,  took  the  tax  tt  in  kind ; "  which 
means  that  they  went  to  the  farmers,  agricolse,  after  the 
harvests  and  with  wagons,  brought  to  the  Miinicipium  or 
town  in  whichever  district  they  were  stationed,  the  share 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  common  land  due  the  city  people 
— grain,  wool,  fruits,  pease,  beans  and  whatever  the  land 
produced.  The  grain  thus  collected  was  turned  over  to 
the  organization  of  the  united  pistores  or  millers,  to  be 
ground;  thence  to  the  united  bakers,  panifices  to  be  made 
into  bread.  So  with  regard  to  everything.  The  almost 
phenomenal  simplicity  and  universality  of  this  great  plan 
of  the  ancients  is  accounted  for  only  by  the  fact  that  there 
were  two  classes  so  widely  separated  that  the  very  touch 
of  a  proletary  was  supposed  to  pollute.  In  consequence 
of  this  wide  distinction  the  merchant,  who  was  also  a  work- 
ingman,  could  not  become  a  monopolist  because  he  waa 
obliged  to  be  a  unionist  which  naturally  recognized  him 
at  a  par  with  his  peers.  This  was  a  direct  result  of  the 
crude  communism  which  legalized  trade  unionism  had 

"  Slaves  who  were  of  so  little  account  under  the  ancient  governments."— "  Free 
citizens  who  alone  had  a  voice  in  the  public  councils." 


350  OR  GA  NIZA  TION. 

created  and  upheld  for  many  centuries  not  only  at  Rome 
but  all  over  Italy  and  in  many  parts  of  Greece. 

Very  gradually  however,  some  merchants  succeeded  in 
becoming  rich.44  On  the  other  hand,  as  we  prove  in  our 
sketch  of  Spartacus,  the  older  slave  system  which  still 
continued  under  the  law  of  Lycurgus  in  Sparta,  un- 
derwent a  revival  in  Italy.  By  the  plan  of  Numa  Pompil- 
ious,  which  was  the  true  ancient  trade  union  system,  there 
was  no  way  for  an  aristocrat  to  conduct  business  of 
any  kind  without  polluting  himself  by  contract  with  the 
proletaries.  He  could,  by  owning  the  slaves,  job  them  to 
managers  of  genius,  themselves  of  the  laboring  class,  some 
to  a  boss  f  armer,  some  to  a  miller,  some  to  a  wagoner,  some 
to  a  manufacturer,  and  thus,  without  himself  touching  his 
own  property,  gratify  his  desire  of  profit,  indirectly, 
through  the  labor  of  his  slaves.  We  are  told  that  Cras- 
sus  bought  up  as  great  a  number  as  500  slaves  at  a  time; 
that  Nicias  owned  1,000;  that  Claudius  owned  as  many  as 
4,116  and  Athens  owned  and  hired  out  no  less  th.in  100- 
000  slaves ! 45  But  these  things  did  not  occur  in  Italy  until 
the  decline  through  Roman  hostility,  of  the  seven  centur- 
ies of  trade  unionism,  which  began  in  high  antiquity,  and 
which  had  been  acknowledged  and  incorporated  as  an  in- 
dustrial system  of  the  state  under  Numa,  nearly  700  years 
before  Christ .  and  did  not  give  up  its  foothold  without  one 
of  the  most  terrible  and  protected  agrarian  and  servile 
struggles  recorded  or  unrecorded  in  the  vicissitudes  of 
the  world.  Nor  must  the  remark  be  forgotten  that  dur- 
ing all  the  centuries  through  which  this  trade  unionism 
existed  the  golden  era  of  prosperity  and  general  happiness 
was  at  its  highest  so  far  as  labor  was  concerned. 

But  this  prosperity  and  happiness  will  be  better  under- 
stood as  we  enumerate,  one  by  one,  the  links  of  trade 
unions  which  formed  the  great  chain  of  industrial  weaL 
While  we  are  doing  this  it  may  be  well  to  keep  constantly 
in  mind  the  suggestion,  together  with  its  proofs,  that  la- 
bor organization  for  protection,  co-operation,  resistance 
and  mutual  improvement  is  always  the  best  standard  by 

**  Consult  Drumann,  Arbelter  vnd  Communixtet^  in  Griechenland  und  Rom,  p. 
81:  "  Ee  verminderte  die  geringschatzunK  nicht  mit'welcher  man  auf  die  Arbeiter 
sab.,  dass  mehrere  beriilimte  Manner  durch  ihre  Geburt  oder  durch  ihre  iriihere 
Beschaftigung  diesem  Stande  angehorten.'' 

43  For  those  giatistics,  see  Bucher.  S.  35-9.  Schambach,  Ilalisdie.  Sdaven- 
aufstand,  3.  1-3.  Siefert,  Siciluche  Sklavenkriege,  S.  10-16. 


THE  «  OTHER    SIDE?  361 

•which  to  measure  the  intensity  of  true  civilization.  When 
the  law  forbidding  these  organizations  struck  the  prole- 
taries, one-half  a  century  before  Christ,  their  decline  be- 
gan ;  and  this  decline  was  a  powerful  cause  of  the  fall  of 
the  Roman  empire. 

The  old  system  of  abject  slavery  pre-existing  in  the 
higher  antiquity,  gradually  reappeared  with  the  great 
Roman  Conquests  and  usurped  the  foundations  of  the 
happier  unions  with  its  malignant  concomitants  of  de- 
graded labor  under  the  lash  of  an  overseer  on  the  one 
hand,  and  with  its  millionare  politicians,  schemers  and 
voluptuaries  on  the  other.  Corruption  followed.  Hope 
fled  with  liberty.  Thrift  disintegrated  into  pestilential 
reservoirs  of  vice.  Kome  fell  into  a  mass  of  corruption. 

It  is  not  at  all  strange,  nor  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
poor  who  constituted  the  laboring  class,  should  keenly 
feel  their  degrading  exclusion  from  the  Eleusinian  Mys- 
teries. Nor  is  it  at  all  to  be  wondered  at  if  we  find  Plu- 
tarch reciting  to  us  his  account  of  what  must  have  been 
a  gigantic  uprising  of  these  people  1,180  years  before 
Christ,  under  Menestheus,  as  under  Aristonicus  in  Asia 
Minor,  1,047  years  afterward  they  rose  against  similar  so- 
cial degradations.  Heaven  to  those  poor  people  was  a 
boon  much  nearer  and  more  visible  than  at  the  present 
day.  They  imagined  the  earth  to  be  flat.  On  this  side 
all  were  mortal ;  on  the  other  immortal.  Some  of  the  im- 
mortal happy  had  power  to  come  from  the  other  side  to 
this.  Here  from  Mount  Olympus  they  assumed  charge  of 
the  welfare  of  mortals.  Many  believed  the  flat  earth  so 
thin  that  rivers  meandered  from  one  to  the  other.  Be- 
t\veen  the  two  surfaces  there  were  surging  floods  of  hor- 
rid smoke  and  steaming,  lurid  waters  or  pits  of  fiery  as- 
piialtum  for  the  wicked,  as  well  as  bright,  purling  streams 
sparkling  and  cool  for  the  just,  leaving  the  banks  and 
plains  that  were  covered  with  verdure  and  peopled  with 
enchanting  birds  and  game. 

Let  the  mover  of  the  modern  labor  agitation  who  treats 
\\ith  scorn  the  author  who  mixes  religion  with  a  history 
of  the  ancient,  reconsider.  He  must  go  back  to  them  as 
they  really  were,  poor  down-trodden,  superstitious,  cred- 
ulous and  ignorant  of  facts  while  misled  by  priests.  They 
"believed  heaven  was  so  near  by  lineal  measure  that  they 


352  ORGANIZATION. 

often  imagined  they  coi  1 1  hear  the  melodious  voices  of  tlie 
blessed  on  the  other  sides  ;  yet  while  they  had  nothing  on 
this  side  to  live  for  and  their  grasping  imagination  over- 
heard and  dwelt  upon  a  future  world  beyond  this  "  vuie 
of  tears,''  they  found  themselve  shut  out  from  all  hope.  The 
workman  in  the  modern  field  of  labor  agitation  certainly 
has  but  a  gloomy  foretaste  in  anything  further  than  his 
future  natural  life.  His  predecessors  have  gone  before 
with  the  axe  and  sickle  of  reason  and  past  experience, 
tools  of  the  thus  intellectual  pioneer.  Their  incomput- 
able toil  has,  with  investigation  and  experiment,  with  re- 
peated millions  of  practical  works,  cleared  away  the  mythic 
film  of  priestcraft  and  superstitious  belief.  The  earth 
is  now  a  globe.  The  miner  knows  this;  for  the  deeper  he 
descends  the  more  unendurable  the  heat.  Who  wants  now 
to  descend  to  heaven  ?  Who  wishes  to  go  to  the  other 
side,  to  China — a  race  groveling,  mortal  and  inferior,  rather 
than  that  of  the  ancients,  beautiful  seraphic,  melodious, 
immortal.  Who  now  wants  to  visit  the  ouranus  of  old 
Plato  in  the  vaulted  dome  of  heaven  ?  Who  wants  to  rise 
when  everybody  knows  that  instead  of  a  region  of  the  im- 
mortal happy  the  farther  one  mounts  the  more  uninhabit- 
able, more  frigid  more  stifling  the  ethers  of  space  ?  La- 
bor's own  skillful  hand  has  caused  all  this  metamorphosis 
in  the  human  mind  and  forced  it  and  is  still  forcing  it  out 
of  its  ignorant  soarings  and  credence-ravings  down  to  a 
cognizance  of  the  earthly  things  that  are. 

No,  we  must  picture  the  life  of  the  ancient  lowly  as  it 
really  was  in  all  its  cushioned  imagination,  in  all  its  yearn- 
ings to  get  there  by  the  beautiful  river,  its  green  carpets 
on  the  other  side  where  the  wicked  ceased  from  troubling 
and  the  weary  were  at  rest ;  and  those  otherwise  incom- 
prehensible, religio-practical  associations  can  be  under- 
stood and  their  full  function  appreciated  only  by  our 
throwing  off  our  own  prejudice  and  contemplating  them 
as  they  really  were.  This  we  propose  to  <ls 


INSCRIPTION  AT  LANUVIUM.  353 

L.  CEIONIO.  COMMODO.  SEX. 
VETULENO.  CIVICA.  POMPE- 
IANO.  COS.  A.  D.  V.  IDUS.  IUN. 


Lanuvi  in  Municipio  in  Templo  Antinoi  in  Quo  L.  Caeseunius  Rufus 
In  the  temple  of  Antince,  city  of  Lavinia,  where  L.  Csesennius  Rufus. 

Diet.    III.    et  patronus   Municipi  conventum    haberi  jusserat 
Spokesman  and  guardian  of  the  town,  ordered  an  association  formed,  through 

Eer.  L.  Pompeium 
.  Pompey 

F urn,  QQ.  Cultorom  Dianae,et  Antinoi,  Pol- 
and F under  tutelary  care  of  Diana  and  Antince,  promising  to  con- 

licitus  est  se 
tribute  towards  it 

in  annum  daturum  eis  ex  liberalitate  sua  Hs.  Xv.  M.  N.  usum 
out  of  his  purse  within  a  given  year  a  sum  of  $600  for  use  of  the  union. 

Die  natalis  Dianae  Idib.  Aug.  Hs.  CCCC.  N.  et  die  natalis  An- 
On  Diana's  birthday,  the  Ides  of  August,  and  birthday  of  Antince,  £16  more. 

tinoi  V.  K. 

Decemb.   Hs.  CCCC.   N.   Et    praecepit    legem    ab   ipsis  con- 
In  the  month  of  December,  #10.      He  also  prescribes  a  law  regulating  the 

stitutam  sub  tetra- 
the  union  which  is 

stilo   Antinoi  parte  interior!  perscribi  in  verba  infra   scripta. 
written  on  the. inside  of  the  4  columned  pillar  in  words  as  recorded  below: 

M.  Antonio  Hibero  P.  Mutnmio  Sisenna  Cos.  K.  Ian.  Collegium 
During  the  consulship  of  M.  Antonins  Hiberus  and  P.  Mummiue  Sisenna  the 

Salutare  Dianae 

Et  Antinoi  constitutum,   L.   Caesennio  L.  F.  Quir. 
mutual  benefit  society  of  Diana  and  Antince  wag  organized  by 

Rufo  Diet  III.  IDEMQ.  PATR. 
L.  CiEsennius  Rufus,  its  recognizeed  patron- 

KAPUT        EX.  S.  C.  P.R. 

Designation.  Written  by  order  of  the  Praefect. 

Quibns  coire  convenire  collegiumque  hebere  liceat.  Qui  stipsm 
H  is»  permitted  that  all  wishing  to  organize  themselves,  may  do  so. 

menstraum  conferre  volent  in  Funera  II  in  collegium  coeant  neq. 
Any  one  desiring  to  pay  monthly  dues  of  8  cents  to  the  Funeral  fund  may 
sub  specie  eius  collegi  nisi  semel  inmense  coeant  conferenui  causa, 
atttn  .  tlie  meetings  twice  a  month  if  the  ebjects  of  such  meeting*  be  the 


354  ORGANIZATION. 

uncle  defuncti  sepeliantur 
bnrying  of  the  dead. 

Quod  faustum  felix  salutarpq.  sit  imp.    Caesari  Traiano  Hadriano 
Whatsoever  is  favorable,  happy  and  healthful  for  the  emperors,  Trojan,  Adrian 

Aug.  totiusque  • 

and  the  whole  house  of  the  Csesars, 

domns  August,  nostris  C"llegioq.  nostro;  et  bene  adque  in- 
will  also  be  good  for  us  and  our  society ;  and  we  should  perform  well  and 

dustrie  contraxerimus,  ut 
industriously  onr  duty  that  we  may 

exitus  eorum    honeste  prosequamur.     Itaq.  bene  conferendo 
honestly  reach  the  end.    So  ought  we  universally  to  agree,  that  we  may 

universi  consentire 
grow  old  in  union. 

debemus,  ut  longo  tempore  inveterescere  possimus. 

Tu  qui  novos  in  hoc  collegio  intrare  voles,  prius  legem  perlege  et  sic 
O  thou  who  wouldst  bring  initiates  into  this  union,  read  well  these  rules,  that 

intra,  ne  postmodum  queraris  aut  eontroversiam  relinquas. 
thou  leaves t  no  controversy  with  thy  heirs! 

LEX    COLLEGI. 

Law  of  the  Union. 

Placuit  universis,  ut  quisquis  in  hoc  collegium  intrare  volnerit, 
Be  it  ordered  in  presence  of  all  men :  That  whosoever  may  desire  to  join  this 

dabit  kapitulari  nomine. 

union  shall  give  to  the  Secretary- Treasurer 

HS.  C.  N".  et  vini  boni  amphoram ;  item  in  menses  sing.  A. 
his  address,  an  initiation  fee  of  $4,  and  a  flagon  of  good  wine ;  and  like- 

V.     Item  placuit,  ut  quisquis  mensib. 
wise  4  cents  monthly  dues.    It  is  ordered  that 

continsnter  non  pariaverit  et  ei  humanitus  acciderit.  circs  ra- 
whoever  fails  to  settle  dues  continuously  for  monihs,  remaining  a  member 

tio  funeris  non  babebitur, 

by  grace,  will  not  have  the  right  of  burial,  even 

etiam  si  testamentum  factum  habuerit. 

though  he  may  have  willed  to  the  association  his  property. 

Item  placuit  quisquis  exhoccorpore  N.  pariatus  eum  decesserit 
Be  it  ordered  that  whoever  dies,  not  in  arrears  to  the  order  let  his  $4,  be  re- 

sequentur  ex  area  HS.  CCCC.  N.  ex  qua  summa  decedent 
turned  from  the  treasury  as  expenses  of  burial. 

exequiari  nomine  HS.  I.  N.  qui  ad  Rogus  dividentur.     Exe- 
One  sesterce  shall  be  divided  at  the  funeral  pile.      But  the  ceremony  mast 

quise  autem  pedibus  fungentur. 
be  performed  on  foot. 


INSCRIPTION  AT  LANUVIUM.  355 

Item  placuit,    quisquis  a  municipio  ultra  miliar.  XX.  decesserit 
Be  it  ordered,  that  whenever  a  member  dies  at  a  distance  of  20  miles  from  the 

et  nuntiatum  fuerit,  eo  exire  debebunt  elecii  ex  corpora  N. 
city,  it  shall  be  reported,  a  permit  taken  and  3,  elected  from  among  the 

homines  tres,  qui  faneris  ejas  caram  agant  et  rationem  po- 
members,  be  sent  to  see  to  it.     Should  it  be  found  that  there  was  any  de- 

palo  reddere  debebunt,  sine  dolo  malo.     Si  quit  in  eis  fraudis 
ception,  then  as  much  as  four-fold  the  amount  shall  be  exacted  as  a  fine, 

Causa,  inventnm  f aerit,   eis  malta  esto  qnadraplam. 
by  reason  of  such  injustice. 

Quibus  sing,  nummus  dabitur;  hoc  amplius  viatici  nomine  citro 
Those  to  whom  money  is  given,  are  to  receive  it  as  follows :     If  it  be  more 

sing.   HS.  XX.  N.  quod  longius  quam  intra  mill  XX.  de- 
than  the  20  miles,  the  sum  shall  be  for  each,  20  sesterces.    But  if  the 

cesserit  et  nunliari  non  potuerit,  turn  is  qui  eum  fuueraverit 
member  dies  at  a  greater  distauc ;  tnan  20  miles,  and  it  cannot  be  an- 

testato  tabulis  signati  sigillis  civium  Romanorum  VII.  et 
nounced,  theu  whoever  attends  to  the  funeral  must  send  an  account, 

probata  causa,  funeraticium  ejus;  salio  dato  ab  eis  nemenem 
signea  and  bearing  the  seal  of  7  Komaii  citizens ;  and  when  the  case 

petiturum,  deductis  commodis  et  exequiano,   e  lege  collegi1 
has  bee  a  proved,  and  the  funeral  expenses  found  reasonable,  no  one 

dari  sibi  petat. 

oojer.tiug,  hi*  pay  shall  be  disbursed  from  the  treasury  If  he  asks   t. 

A  nostro  collegio  dolu*  mains  abesto  neque  patrono  neque  patro- 
L"t  :here  be  no  pain  felt  in  our  union.    Neither  patron  nor  patroness  mas- 

nae,  neque  domino  neque  dominse  neque  creditor!  ex  hoc  col- 
ter nor  mistress,  nor  even  credi  tor,  shall  make  any  demand,  account 

legio  ulla  petitio  esto  nisi  qui  testamento  heres  nominatus  est. 
or  claim  whatever,  or  anybody  else,  except  him  who  is  elected  heir. 

Si  quis  intestatus  deoesserit,  is,  arbitrio  quinq.  et  populi  funerab 
If  any  one  die  without  children,  five  sesterces  shall  be  given  &  all  attend. 

Item  placuit,  quisquis  ex  hoc  colleeio  servus  defunctus  fuerit,  et 
Be  it  ordered  that  whoever  dies  a  member,  being  a  slave,  and  his  body  is 

corpus  ejus  a  domino  dominave  inquietate  sepulturse  datum 
unwillingly  given  up  for  sepulture  by  ma-ter  or  mistress  who  will  not 

non  faerit  neque  tabella,  ei  funus  imaginarium  net. 
permit  a  registration,  an  imaginary  funeral  shall  tie  held. 

Item  nlacuit,  quisquis  ex  quacumque  causa  mortem  sibi  adseiverit, 
Be  it  ordered  that  whoever  commits  suicide  from  any  cause,  for  this  reason 

ejus  ratio  funeris  non  habebitur. 
no  funeral  can  be  held. 


356  ORGANIZATION. 

Item  placait,  ut  quisquis  servus  ex  hoc  collegia  liber  factus  fuerit 
Be  it  orderecS  that  whatever  slave  is  set  free  by  this  union,  he  shall  contrib- 

is  dare  debebit  vini  boni  amphoram. 
ate  a  flagon  of  good  wine. 

Item  placuit,  quisquis  mapister  suo  anno  erit  ex  ordine  albi  ad 
It  is  ordered  that  whatever  manager  who  during  his  year,  shall  not  attend  the 

caenam  faciendam,  et  uon  observaverit  neqae  fecerit,  is  arcae 
ceremony  nor  observe,  nor  perform  functions,  shall  pay  a  fine  of  30  ses- 

inferet  HS.  XXX.  N.  et  insequens   pjns  dare  debebi*-   et  is 
terces  into  the  treasury  and    the  place  shall  be  forfeited  to  his  suc- 

ejus  loco  restituere  debebit. 
cessor. 


ORDO  CENARUM  VIII.  ID  MAR. 

Order  of  the  feasts,  on  the  8th.,  Ides  of  March  ; 


NATALI  GJ2SENNI PATRIS  V.  K  DEO. 

NAT.  ANTONOI IDIB.  AUG  NATALI  DIAN^E  ET  COL- 

LEGII  XIII.  K.   SEPT.   JAN.  NATALI  L.   G^ESENNI 
RUFI  PATH.  MUNIO. 


Magtetri  caenarum  ex  ordine  albi  facta  quo  ordine  homines  qua- 
The  managers  of  the  feasts  established  by  the  order,  will  place  the  men,  4  at  a 

terni    ponere  debebunt:    vini  boni    amphoras   singulas,  et 
time,  in  their  order :  each  contributing  a  flask  of  good  wine  and  a  loaf  of 

panes   A.     li  qui  numerus  collegi  fuerit  et  sardas  numero 
beet   bread,   and    each,  four  pickled    sardines    served    hot   In   proper 

quatuor  strationem  caldam  cum  ministerio. 
dishes. 


INSCRIPTION    AT  LANUVIUM.  357 

Item  placuit,  ut  quisquis  quinquennalis  in  hoc  collegio  factus 
fuerit,  a  sigillis  eius  temporis,  quo  quinquennalis  erit,  im- 
mimis  esse  debebit,  et  ei  ex  omnibus  divisonibus  partes 
duplas  dari.  Item  soribae  et  viatori  a  sigillis  vacantibus  par- 
tes ex  omni  divisione  sesquiplas  dari  placuit. 

Item  placuit,  ut  quisquis  quinquennalitatem  gesserit  integre,  et 

ob  honorem  partes  sesquiplas  ex  omni  re  dari,  ut  et  reliqui 
recte  faciendo  idem  sperent. 

Item  placuit,  si  quis  quid  queri  aut  referre  volet,  in  conventu  re- 
ferant,  ut  quieti  et  hilares  diebus  sollemnibus  epulemr. 

Item  placuit,  ut  quisquis  seditionis  causa  de  loco  in  alium  locum 
transierit,  ei  multa  esto  H8.  IIII.  N.  Si  quis  autem  in  ob- 
probrium  alteralterius  dixerit,  aut  tumultuatus  fuerit,  ei 
multa  esto  HS.  N.  Si  quis  quinquennali  inter  epulas  obpro- 
brium  aut  quid  contumeliose  dixerit,  ei  multa  esto  HS.  XX. 
H. 

Item  placuit,  ut  quinquennalis  sui  cuiusque  temporis  diebus  sol- 
lemnibus ture  et  vino  supplicet  et  ceteris  officiis  albatus 
fungatur,  et  diebus  natalium  Dianae  et  Antinoi  oleum  col- 
legio in  balineo  publico  ponat  antequam  epulentur. 


The  remarkable  features  of  this  college  are  that  under 
the  guise  of  piety,  and  of  being  a  burial  and  mutual  bene- 
fit society,  it  was  used  to  emancipate  slaves,  That  it  was 


858  ORGANIZATION. 

a  trade  or  labor  union  is  shovyp  by  its  being  devoted  to 
securing  good  places  to  work. 

Everywhere  the  severity  of  the  law  is  apparent.  Rome 
had  a  mortal  fear  of  labor  riots  and  uprisings  and  hence  the 
many  fines  which  stood  as  a  constant  menace,  acting  as  a 
check  against  insubordination.  It  was  difficult  to  obtain  a 
privilege  or  charter  to  organize  one  of  these  labor  unions, 
and  consequently  where  they  possessed  one,  it  was  prized 
as  a  gem  of  great  value  ;  which  may  account  for  their  great 
age,  found  in  some  cases  to  have  been  four  or  five  hundred 
years. 

The  love  of  the  Latin  race  for  pleasures  is  observable  all 
through.  They  used  this  great  union  or  commune  for  that 
purpose  ;  but  they  are  seen  in  these  rules  and  regulations, 
to  have  held  uppermost  a  peculiar  system  of  culture  tend- 
ing toward  ultimate  emancipatian  from  the  lowly  and  re- 
stricted condition  in  which  they  were  held  by  the  law  and 
the  police  regulations  of  the  optitnate  class. 


CHAPTEE   XIV. 

THE    CATEGORIES. 

THE  GEEAT  ECONOMIC  ORGANIZATIONS. 

ASCIEST  FEDEKATIONS  of  Labor — How  they  were  Employed  by 
the  Government — Nomenclature  of  the  Brotherhoods — Cat- 
egories of  King  Numa—  Varieties  and  Ramifications — The 
Masons,  Stonecutters  and  Bricklayers — Federation  for  Mu- 
tual Advantages — List  of  the  35  Trade  Unions,  under  the 
Jus  Coeundi. 

NUMA  POMPILIUS,  the  first  king  after  Romulus,  recog 
nized  trade  unions  even  before  Solon  of  Athens,  who  fol- 
lowed rather  than  led  in  this  scheme  as  a  measure  of  po- 
litical economy.1  They  had,  however,  already  existed,  per 
haps  thousands  of  years  before  receiving  any  recognition 
at  all.  One  of  the  first  of  importance  legalized  by  these 
lawgivers  was  the  fraternity  of  builders. 

They  were  called  in  Greek,  the  technical  and  in  Latin 
tignarii.  It  is  evident  from  Plutarch,  that  he  intended 
this  word  to  include  also  the  mason.2  If,  however,  all  the 
building  trades  were  organized  into  one  body  or  union, 
they  were  very  different  from  trade  unions  of  our  day. 
Besides,  had  Plutarch  intended  to  convey  the  idea  that 
all  the  building  trades  were  united  into  one  under  Numa 
he  would,  it  seems  to  us,  have  used  the  still  more  compre- 
hensive Greek  term  technites  which  expresses  it.  Again 
its  Latin  synonym  found  by  Mommsen,  proves  that  Numa's 

i  Plutarch,  Numa  1.  Numa  followed  Romulus  to  the  throne,  about  690  years 
before  Christ  Plutarch's  sasruestion  that  he  m:ghr  have  personally  known  Py- 
thagoras and  that  he  had  been  brought  op  amon^the  Pythagorean  Greek  settle- 
ments of  Iialy  which  were  coinmunL-ticai  in  character  looks  exceedingly  plausi- 
ble. 

'-'  See  Wm.  Lan-.'horne's  tr.  of  Plutarch,  in  l?uma. 


360          ANCIENT  FEDERATION   OF  LABOR. 

union  was  that  of  workers  in  metal  and  wood.3  In  those 
times  the  mountains  back  of  Rome  produced  dense  for- 
ests, which  were  not  swept  away  by  machinery  with  the 
rapidity  of  modern  art.  The  people,  on  account  of  wars, 
want  of  medical  science,  comparative  abstinence  from 
marriage,  dissoluteness  of  the  rich,  hardships  of  the  poor, 
did  not  multiply  rapidly.  In  consequence  the  forests  pro- 
duced new  trees  as  fast  as  they  were  cut  away  by  the 
workmen.  Rome  was  mostly  built  of  wooden  houses ;  and 
no  doubt  there  was  an  abundance  of  work  for  the  carpen- 
ters. All  the  great  public  buildings  were  constructed  by 
trade  unions  for  the  state,  direct — that  is,  with  contract- 
ors or  middlemen,  and  the  carpenters'  union  used  to  take 
charge  of  the  woodwork.  The  Ager  publicus*  had  to  be 
furnished  with  houses  for  the  Gentry.  Honorary  seats 
were  made  by  these  fabri  tignariorum,  such  as  the  splendid 
bisellia  *  or  cushions  of  the  gods.  The  fine  villas  of  wealthy 
gentlemen6  who  had  a  custom  of  turning  public  moneys 
and  lands  to  their  own  account  were  work  of  their  art. 
In  fact  this  was  common  from  the  highest  antiquity  before 
the  division  of  the  gentes  into  curse,  and  tribes.  Thus 
it  was  not  considered  a  breach  of  political  rule  to  divert 
the  public  funds,  to  a  certain  extent,  to  the  building  or  re- 
pairing of  their  own  fine  residences ;  And  this  work  was 
performed  by  the  builders'  unions. 

There  were  two  names  under  which  the  wood-workers 
of  the  building  trades  were  known.  These  were  the 
dendrophori,  mentioned  in  the  code  of  Theodosius '  as 

3  Mommsen,  De  Collegiis  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum,  pp.  29  30.    "Inter  elapses 
primam  et  secnndam  interjectae  erant  centuria  fabrum  lignariornm  et  cent'iria 
fabrum  aerariorum,  sive.  ut  Dionysiam  (VII.  59)  sequamur :    Siio  Ad^oi  TCKTOC iav 

leal  xa.\KorvTriav  icai  bom  dAAoi  iro\e^uciai>  epyiav  JI<TO.V  \eipore\vai. 

4  We  prefer  to  use  this  Latin  term  because  it  saves  explanatory  words  neces- 
sary to  qualify  the  meaning  of  the  English  word  "  land."    It  means  common 
lands  belonging  to  the  government,  on  which  the  workingmen  had  no  claim  as 
citizens.    The  propensity  of  the  Roman  building  trades  to  organize  in  proiec- 


clivity  of  the  ancient  Romans  for  organizing  into  communes  was  never  lost  even 
in  far  off  Kent,  sticking  to  the  English  people  to  this  day,  furnishes  a  formid- 
able argument  against  the  assumption  that  the  Saxon  Rule  absolutely  superseded 
that  of  the  earlier  inhabitants. 

6Fabretti.  Inscrip'.iones  Antiquts  Explicatic,  p.  170,324  p  227,604.  Grut. 
675,3.  AlsoOrelt,  No.  4.055. 

«  Our  own  word  "  gentleman  "  is  directly  derived  from  the  Latin  word  g°ns, 
or  high  and  respectable  family.  If  we  call  the  human  race  an  'Order,"  thege,ita 
may  be  considered  a  "  genus." 

*  Codex  Theodosii,  14,  8.    Also  Orell,  Incriplivnes  Latinarum  Collectio,  Nos. 


TRADE    UNIONS   SUPPRESSED.  361 

veritable  trade  unions,  and  the  tignarii  who  were  the  true 
carpenters  and  joiners.  As  we  construe  the  signification 
of  these  two  terms  from  the  stone  monuments  and  slabs 
on  which  they  are  found  engraved  and  not  as  found  in  the 
dictionaries,  we  conclude  that  the  dendrophori  must  have 
been  the  heavy  lumbermen  and  framers.  They  cut  and 
hewed  the  heavy  timbers  both  for  buildings  and  ships; 
while  the  tignarii  did  the  lighter  work.  One  thing  is  cer- 
tain ;  they  both  occur  together  in  many  of  the  inscriptions.8 
This  class  of  trade  unions  was  considered  necessary  to  the 
welfare  of  the  state;  and  was  exempted  from  being  sup- 
pressed when,  in  B.  C.  58,  the  conspiracy  laws  were  put 
in  operation  by  Csesar ;  although  so  much  suspicion  rested 
upon  them  that  they  were  watched  with  a  jealous  eye  by 
the  officers  of  the  law  and  as  appears,  much  of  their  former 
vitality  was  crushed  out  They  had  existed  from  the  time 
of  Numa  in  Kome,  and  of  Solon  at  Athens,  in  full  strength 
and  vigor.  At  the  time  of  their  suppression  by  restrictive 
laws  nearly  all  the  Grecian  territory,  especially  that  of  At- 
tica, including  Athens,  the  Piraeus,  Eleusis  and  all  the  pop- 
ulous towns  where  they  are  known  to  have  existed  in  great 
numbers,  belonged  to  Rome,  then  mistress  of  the  world. 

It  must  have  been  a  very  strange  experience  for  a  great 
people  to  undergo.  Here  was  a  system  of  manufacture 
and  repairs  of  immemorable  age,  authorized  by  the  most 
highly  esteemed  lawgivers,  one  of  whom  was  one  of  the 
seven  wise  men  of  Greece.  It  had  been  known  by  the 
chronicles  for  fully  600  years,  and,  though  it  performed 
duties  which  by  the  haughty  and  foolish  were  considered 
degrading,  and  upon  which  there  rested  a  taint,  yet  it  was 
an  important  institution,  taking  charge  of  indispensable 
affairs  of  public  as  well  as  of  private  life.  All  at  once  it 
was  suppressed.  That  the  result  was  a  dangerous  con- 
vulsion cannot  be  wondered  at. 

Gruter  cites  a  college  of  dendrophori9  who  used  to  build 

3,741,  4,082,  3,349,  7,336.  7.145.  3,888,  5,113,4,055.  6,037,  7018,  7,018,  6,031. 
6,073,  6.590,  911,  4,109,  7,194,  7,197,  4,069.  Each  of  these  19  numbers,  repre- 
sents a  collegium  or  trade  union  of  wood-workers  The  inscriptions  were  found 
in  as  many  plnces  nearly  as  there  are  numbers. 

s  Orell.  4,084,  "  Collegium  Fabrorum  Navalium Tune  eaipsacon- 

ditione  fabr.  Tig.  Pisaurensium . ' '  PUauru  m  was  an  Umbrian  town  at  the  mouth 
of  the  navigable  Pisaurus,  Inscr.  4,160  Faber  Tignariorum  and  Coll.  Dendro- 
phorum  are  noted  together. 

»  Gruteriua,  Inscription**  Antiques  Totiut  Orbit  Bomanorum,  175,  8. 


362     CATEGORIES    OF   TRADE  FEDERATIONS. 

houses  and  ships  or  boats  for  the  society  of  freight  boat- 
men located  at  Rome.  He  also  gives  one  which  Orelli 
quotes,  taken  on  a  stone  slab  in  times  as  late  as  Justinian. 1(> 
The  word  epulantur  conveying  the  idea  of  entertainment, 
shows  that  these  schools  of  the  workingmen  sometimes 
used  their  organization  as  a  means  of  mutual  enjoyment. 
Especially  was  this  the  case  among  the  Greek  fraternities 
which  we  describe  in  their  place.  After  the  great  strug- 
gle with  Spartacus,  the  right  of  organization  was  severely 
restricted  by  the  Roman  law;  and  it  became  necessary 
for  the  unions,  in  order  to  exist  at  all,  to  assume  two  forms 
of  dissimulation  by  which  to  parry  the  attacks  of  enemies 
who  had  recourse  to  these  conspiracy  laws  in  order  to 
gratify  their  whims  of  revenge,  or  to  fortify  their  own 
schemes  of  making  money  through  the  cheap  labor  of  the 
slave  system  which  Rome  in  the  later  days  had  revived, 
and  which  such  enemies  of  organized  labor  as  Cicero  or 
Crassus,  were  pushing  with  an  almost  fierce  determination, 
on  pretense  of  restoring  the  ancient  purity  of  religion, 
family  and  vested  rights.  We  have  noted  that  certain 
kinds  of  organizations  were  permitted.11  Among  these 
were  collegia  sancta,  or  those  unions  and  fraternities  given 
to  holy  or  pious  purposes.  So  some  of  these  were  shrewd 
enough  to  combine  business  with  holiness  and  thus  shield 
themselves  from  their  pursuers.14  Mommsen  speaks  of 
them  in  clearest  terms  which  leave  no  doubt  whatever  re- 
garding the  mysterious  procedure "  of  those  old  Roman 
lawyers  who  were  determined  to  suppress  the  trade  unions, 
root  and  branch,  in  order  to  reinstitute  slavery,  the  most 
ancient  form  of  labor  known  to  their  religion,  which  had 

10  We  quote  the  Latin  as  given  by  Orell.,  No,  4,088     "  Ex  S.  C .  Schola  Aug. 
Collegii  Fabrorum  Tignariorum  impendiis  ipsorum   ab  inchoate  exstructo,  solo 
dato  ab  T.  Furio  prhnogenio  qni  et  ded.c.  ejus  US.  X.  N.  ded.  ex  cujns  summ. 
redit,  omnibus  annis  Xil.  K.  August  die  natalis  sui,  epulantur."    Gruter,  169,  6 

11  Dion.  XXXVIII.  13,  Antiquitates,  says  :    "  To.  eratpua avr*  fj.ev    f* 

rov  apxaiov  KaTa\vdevTo.  Se  \povov  rivd."     Asconius  1.  C.  Comment,  says:  "  Co[- 

legia  sunt  sublata  praeter  pauca  atque  certa  quae  utilitas  ciyitatis  deinderassit 
quffi  sint  fabrorum  flctorumque."  These  saved  were  Pagan  image  makers  who 
wrought  the  religious  devices,  q,  v. 

l!i  Complures  autem  ob  finei  ejusmodi  instituebantur  collegia:  religionis  ante 
omn-ia  causa,  ut,  qui  idem  vitae  genus  essent  amplexi,  iisdem  quoque  sacris  uter- 
nnter,"  etc.,  etc.  Orell.  VII.  p,  244-  Inter.  Latin  Collectia. 

13  Mommsen,  De  Coll.  et  Sodal.  Rom.,  pp.  87-88,  says:  "  Ipsa  ilia  simulata 
(referring  to  lex.  3,  Digest,  de  extr.  crim.  XLVII,  11. )  religio  Beuatuni  promovit 
tu  jus  coeundi  tolleret  Explicanda  sunt  ilia  verba  de  coitionibus  in  templis  ad 
rem  divinam  faciendam,  qnae  etsi  neutiquam  contra  SUtum  erant,  facile  tamen 
in  fraudem  SCti  usurpari  poterant. ' 


CONFLICT  AGAINST  CHEAP  LABOR.         363 

founded  their  patrimony,  their  law  of  entailment  through 
primogeniture  and  their  system  of  grandees  and  of  slaves. 
Nurna  and  Solon  had  been  these  fellows'  enemies;  Lycur- 
gus  their  friend.  Trade  unionism  the  child  of  wills  and 
manumissions,  had  first  come  among  them,  a  spontaneous 
growth.  It  cradled  and  matured  human  sympathy.  It 
had  proved  itself  innocent,  enterprising  and  good.  It  had 
succeeded  in  becoming  legalized  by  those  two  powerful 
princes — a  mighty  stride.  But  it  had,  as  the  gens  families 
fancied,  usurped  the  ancient  and  holy  system  of  slavery 
and  tli us  interfered — by  substituting  communism — with 
their  vested  indhidual  rights.14  On  account,  probably,  of 
their  superstition,  Cicero,  Caesar  and  the  rest,  after  they 
had  put  down  Clodius  the  intrepid  orator  and  tribune  who 
had  restored  the  old  and  created  new,15  excepted  such  of 
the  carpenters  and  joiners  or  cabinet-makers'  unions  as 
confined  their  labor  to  manufacturing  all  sorts  of  wooden 
idols,  which  in  those  days,  were  sometimes  very  large,  and 
built  for  the  temples,  the  fanes  and  the  family  alters.  It 
it  also  quite  likely  that  a  few  unions  devoted  to  the  car- 
penter work  on  the  temples  and  the  aedes  sanctae,  were 
saved.  But  we  ascend  from  these  cruel  days  of  moribund 
Rome  to  an  earlier  and  brighter  age. 

14  We  have  repeatedly  mentioned  the  impossibility,  among  the  Indo-Euro- 
pean Greeks  arid  Italians,  of  there  ever  ha\  ing  existed  in  those  peninsulas  a  com- 
munistic, or  even  patriarchal  form  of  government.    The  bent  of  labor  communes 
was  towards  it  but  they  never  succeeded  in  breaking  down  the  power  of  the  com- 
petitive system  :  and  it  rules  to  this  day.    The  oldest  records  of  any  kind  shedding 
light,  confirm  the  idea  that  originally  the  despotic  form  of  govern im  nt  prevailed  ; 
the  father  paterfamilies  a#  king,  with  his  sons  and  daughters  and  others  as  sla^  es 
around  his  fixed  abiding  place,  mnst  have  been  the  primitive  government  behind 
which  there  is  neither  record  nor  philosophy— no  philosophy  without  overturn- 
ing the  theory  of  development.    Man  has  grown  into  refinement  through  reason 
and  experience  and  it  is  altogether  inconsistent  with  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
ever  tried  so  high  a  form  of  government  as  the  cummunistic one,  or  that  he  ever 
had  in  those  tinier  otht-r  than  selfish,   cruel,  beast-government  in  which  all  re- 
search into  antiquity  finds  him.  Mommsen,  History  of  Rome,  Vol   I,  p.  44.  In  cor- 
roboration  says :  •'  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  with  the  Graeco-Italians  »a 
with  all  other  nations,  agriculture  became,  and  in  the  mind  of  the  people  re- 
mained the  germ  and  core  of  their  national  and  of  their  private  life.    The  house 
and  the  fixed  he.irth,  which  the  husbandman  constructs  instead  of  the  light  hut 
and  shifting  fireplace  of  the  shepherd  and  represented  in  the  spiritual  domain 
and  idealized  in  the  goddess  Vesta  or  "Evria.,  almost  the  only  divin:ty  not  indn- 
Germanic  yet  from  the  first  common  to  both  nations."    So  again  (p.  48).    "  Tl'6 
Hellenic  character,  which  sacrificed  the  whole  to  its  individual  elements,  the 
nation  to  the  township  and  the  township  to  the  citizen."    This  exactly  expresses 
our  idea,  viz:  that  everything  from  the  first,  was  subordinate  to  the  unlimited, 
despotic  control  of  the  "father."    For  valuable  information.    See  Funck  Bren- 
tano  Ln  Civilisation  et  set  Lois,  IV,  1,  p.  311 ,  i  quoting  Plutarch  Tsuma,  VII)      "  11 
en  fut  de  mSme  c'ans  les  cites  de  la  Grece :  ce  fut  une  condition  de  leur  progres." 

15  Ascon,  Ad  h.  L.    "  Diximus,  L    Pisone  et  A.  Gabieno  consulibus  1'.  Clo- 
dinm  tribunum  piebis—  tulisse— de  collegiU  restituendis,  novisque  instituendi*, 
quas  ait  es  servitiorum  faece  constituta." 


364    CATEGORIES  OF  TRADE  FEDERATIONS. 

Fabretti  gives  us  another  union  of  carpenters  and  join- 
ers whose  inscription  svas  found  at  Leprignani.  It  reads 
very  plainly  and  shows  that  they  had  a  federation  of  the 
trades.1'  Another  collegium  fabrorum  tignariorum  or  car- 
penters' trade  union  is  reported  by  Muratori.17  The  tab- 
let was  found  at  Ravelli  in  the  province  of  Naples,  show- 
ing that  the  unions  of  those  days  were  not  confined  to 
Home  or  any  of  the  other  large  cities  but  were  as  fre- 
quent proportionately  to  population  in  any  small  town. 

An  inscription  is  reported  by  Gruter,18  bearing  evidence 
of  another  interesting  school,  schola,  of  the  bona  fide  car- 
penters' unions,  found  in  the  Tolentine  temple  of  Cathar- 
ina — religious,  of  course,  and  of  a  later  date.  Orelli 18 
quotes  the  learned  Muratori  of  Modena  as  the  authority 
if  not  the  finder  of  an  inscription  which  describes  a  colleg- 
ium together  with  a  sodalicium — another  Roman  name  for 
trade  union,  in  which  the  president  or  Magister,  and  the 
secretary  are  mentioned.  It  is  a  union  of  the  skilled  wood- 
workers. It  was  found  in  the  town  of  Falaria,  and  ap- 
pears to  be  very  old.  It  is  not  unusual  for  the  inscrip- 
tions engraved  in  the  time  of  the  emperors,  to  state  an  ap- 
proximate of  their  date  by  noting  the  names  of  the  con- 
suls, or  of  the  monarch  who  then  occupied  the  throne. 
Unfortunately  for  the  more  ancient  ones  this  is  not  so 
strictly  done;  probably  owing  more  to  the  fact  that,  as 
the  law  at  earlier  dates  fully  protected  them,  they  were 
not  forced  to  inscribe  the  dates  by  little  points  or  con- 
structions such  as  characterized  the  laws  after  the  restrict- 
ive acts  were  promulgated. 

No  less  than  eighteen  of  the  genuine  carpenters  and 
joiners'  unions  are  found  in  the  work  of  Orelli.20  As  these 
working  people  used  their  unions  as  means  whereby  to 
parry  off  the  many  dangers  that  beset  them  on  every 
hand,  such  as  slavery,  starvation,  slurs  of  contempt  and 
in  later  times  conscription,  we  cannot  too  well  understand 
Low  keenly  alive  they  must  have  been  to  their  welfare. 

i«  Fabretti,  C.  IV,  529,  of  Inscripllones  Antiques.  Explicatio. 

17  Muratorius,  Thesaurus  Velerum  Incriptlonum,  521. 

18  Gruter,  Inscriptiones  Antiques  Tolius  Orbis  Romanorum,  169.  6 

i»  Orell.,  No.  4,056,  Mur.itorl,  Thesaur.  Vet.  Inscr.  523.  We  give  It  with  the 
abbreviations:  '' D.  M.  T.  Sillio  T.  Lib.  Prisco  mag,  colleg.  Fabr.  et  q  mag.  et 
q.  sodal.  fullonum  Clavidte  lib.  uxori  ejus  matri  sortali.  C.  Tullon,  T  Sillius 
Karus  et  TJ.  Claudius  Phillippus  inag.  etQ.  Colleg.  fabr.  fllilparentib.  piissimis." 

20  Scholia  Arlificum  et  Opiflcum,  Vol.  II,  pp.  227-240,  and  Artei  et  Opijicia, 
idem,  pp.  247.266,  of  Orelli's  great  work  on  the  Latin  Inscriptions. 


GOVERNMENT  EMPLOY.  365 

On  the  other  hand,  the  power  of  organization  which  kept 
them  in  a  position  to  supply  the  orders  given  them  by  the 
state,  was  ever  a  great  encouragement. 

Among  the  many  interesting  monuments  or  schools  of 
ancient  trade  unionism,  where  mutual  love  and  care  were 
taught  and  the  noble  element  of  sympathy  was  grafted 
upon  the  selfish,  competitive  body  of  irascible  and  acquis- 
itive paganism  which  animated  the  Lycurgan  rule  at  Sparta 
and  the  purely  archaic  slave  code  everywhere,  are  those  to 
be  found  in  the  Order  of  masons,  stonecutters  and  brick- 
layers. These  with  the  painters,  glaziers,  roofers  and 
plumbers,  were  indispensable  to  complete  the  building 
trades.  They  too,  felt  the  necessity  of  organization,  es- 
pecially in  the  later  time  of  Ceesar  and  the  emperors,  on 
account  of  the  awful  treatment  of  slaves  by  their  ferocious 
masters.  There  existed  no  law  by  which  the  slave  mas- 
ters could  be  brought  to  account  for  savage  acts  of  bar- 
barity toward  their  slaves. 

This  distressing  state  of  things  was  not !1  relieved  until 
the  emperor  Adrian  withdrew  the  slaves  from  the  domes- 
tic tribunals  and  transferred  them  to  the  tribunal  of  the 
magistrates;  in  other  words  gave  them  government  pro- 
tection. But  this  was  200  years  after  the  war  of  Sparta- 
cus.  The  fear  of  being  relegated  back  to  slavery  was  a 
constant  urgent  to  ancient  trade  unionism ;  and  this  ex- 
plains one  reason  at  least,  why  they  so  tenaciously  hugged 
their  fraternities  notwithstanding  the  conspiracy  laws 
against  trade  and  other  organizations  of  the  working  peo- 
ple. It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  according  to  the  law 
of  B.  C.  58,w  all  the  new  unions  were  suppressed.  Conse- 
quently, we  are  to  infer  that  those  we  find  in  the  inscrip- 
tions are  those  belonging  to  the  ancient  plan  of  Xuma  and 
Solon  which  were  spared  on  account  of  their  veteran  age 
and  respectability.23  Another  thing  requiring  the  nicest 
discrimination  is  the  fact  that  it  will  not  do  to  mention  all 
the  examples  set  down  in  the  works  of  the  archaelogists. 
We  only  mention  those  where  the  labor  organization  is 
clearly  defined.  Many  of  these  queer  inscriptions  appear 

n  See  Granier,  Hisloire  des  Clastet  Ouvrilres,  pp.  491-487. 

K  See  Mommseii,  L>e  Collegiis  et  SocUUiciis  Ramanonim,  cap.  IV,  pp.  73-78. 
De  Ltytbut  Contra  Collegia  Lot  is. 

21  Suetonius,  Cces.  42.  «•  Caesar  cuncta  collegia  pra-tcr  antiqnitns  coi.»;;ti:ta 
ili:-traxit.  ' 


366      CATEGORIES  OF   TRADE  FElsAttJlTIONS. 

to  us  to  be  only  private  signs  and  hav».  nothing  to  do  with 
our  theme.  Slavery  was  everywhert  prevalent  and  many 
of  the  slaves  were  as  ingenious  as  th*»  freedmen.  We  are 
told  by  Drumann  and  others  that  it  was  customary  for 
masters  to  keep  their  slaves  at  work  and  obtain  profit  from 
their  labor  by  letting  it  out  to  enterprising  foreigners  who 
contracted  building  repairs  and  other  work  on  private 
houses  and  grounds.  But  the  government  was  the  true 
employer  of  the  unions  because  they,  possessing  of  them- 
selves as  it  were,  in  a  unit,  all  the  men  in  organization, 
always  ready,  money,  tools,  raw  material,  skill  and  even 
the  designs  requisite  to  turning  out  a  good  job  promptly, 
were  dangerous  competitors  of  slavery  on  large  works.20 
Prom  the  time  of  Nurna  the  government  of  Rome  had  al- 
ways patronized  the  trade  unions.  Thus  it  would  appear 
that  some  of  the  inscriptions  may  have  been  private  signs 
used  by  slave  employers  who  carried  on  private  work  upon 
a  small  scale,  hiring  their  laboring  force  of  the  rich  slave 
owning  patricians;  and  it  will  not  do  to  count  the  arch- 
aeologists' lists  of  artes  et  opificia ;  while  it  is  almost  always 
safe  to  enumerate  their  specimens  of  the  Corpora,  Sodal- 
icia  or  Collegia  25  in  our  list  of  trade  unions  and  communes. 
Trade  unionism  in  its  highest  form  is  the  reverse  of  slavery. 
The  true  trade  union  of  all  ages  takes  care  of  its  mem- 
bers who  are  co-owners  of  equal  shares,  on  equal  foot- 
ing. Slavery  then,  is  the  exact  antithesis  of  trade  union- 
ism in  principle ;  but  although  it  is  certain  that  the  prin- 
ciple on  which  slavery  is  based  was,  especially  among  the 
Spartans  and  Romans,  carried  out  with  all  its  repugnant 
and  appalling  brutalities,26  yet  it  is,  as  a  recognized  sys- 
tem in  the  religio-social  economy  of  the  world,  incom- 
putably  the  oldest  of  the  two.  Trade  unionism  was  a 
deadly  rival  to  the  slave  system  all  through  the  antiquity 
of  the  Indo-European  stock ;  and  since  slavery  was  a  graft 
of  the  ancfent  religion — the  natural  child  of  its  law  of 

**  Granier.  Hist,  des  Classes  Ouwibres,  p.  303,  speaking  of  the  insignificance 
of  individuals  when  compared  with  the  immense  force  of  organized  trades,  says  : 
"  Ici  les  noinbreuT  ouvrieres  de  Caton  (slaves),  les  500  ouvriers  (slaves)  de  Cras- 
Biis  H'  auraient  pu  rien  faire ;  il  fallait  des  corporations,  (trade  unions)  des  col- 
ei/esl  de  travailleurs." 

2S  cf.  Orell.  lib.  II.  pp.  227-246,  Collegia  Corpora  et  Sodalicia.  ScholcB  ArUficum 
et  Opificum.  See  also  lib.  Ill,  Sup  Henzen  Index  to  Collegia,  init. 

-*  Granier,  Hist  des  Classes  Ouvrieres,  chap.  Ill  and  IV,,  also  Plut.  Lycurgus 
•and  Nurna  compared. 


ORGANIZATION  A  FOE   TO    SLAVERY.         367 

primogeniture  and  the  fostered  fruit  of  entailment  in  tho 
social,  political  and  economic  development  of  those  semi- 
barbarous  families,  phratries,  curies  and  tribes  which  came 
to  be  nations  and  empires,  it  must  not  be  wondered  at 
that  this  hideous  fledgling,  before  giving  up  the  ghost, 
made  a  terrific  struggle  to  regain  what  it  had  lost  through 
the  mild  but  determined  enterprise  of  its  great  competitor 
trade  unionism. 

It  was  this  that  constituted  the  mighty  struggle  of  the 
revolution  in  the  social  economy  of  the  lowly  and  it  so  re- 
mains to  this  day;  although  in  this  comparatively  gorgeous 
and  brilliant  hour  the  spirit  of  human  slavery,  resting 
upon  absolute,  merchantable  ownership  of  man  by  man, 
seems  to  have  forever  fled.  Nothing  now  remains  of 
slavery  but  its  skeleton — individual  competism — hanging 
betwixt  peace  and  war  over  the  vortex  of  revolution  and 
swinging  to  and  fro  at  every  fresh  attack  from  the  same 
trade  unionism  which,  although  of  prehistoric  longevity 
grows  more  youthful,  enterprising  and  belligerent  with 
every  invention  and  discovery  and  every  stride  of  litera- 
ture, of  science  and  of  Christianity. 

The  unions  of  the  masons  at  Rome  do  not  appeal1  so 
numerous  as  those  of  the  framers  among  the  building 
trades.  Still  we  find  tablets  whose  inscriptions  show  their 
existence.21  We  have  already  mentioned  the  fact  that 
among  the  true  workmen's  organizations  the  slabs  which 
appear  to  have  been  inscribed  independently  by  themselves 
and  without  the  correctional  inspection  of  masters,  often 
puzzle  the  experts  on  account  of  the  sometimes  ludicrously 
bad  spelling  and  misplacement  of  words.  Sometimes  also 
there  appear  words  belonging  to  the  peculiar  slang  or 
patois  monenclature,  their  trade's  vernacular.  But  while 
this  is  somewhat  troublesome  to  archaeologists  it  is  ex- 
ceedingly interesting  to  students  of  ethnology  and  soci- 
ology; since  it  shows  otherwise  unrecorded  proof  that  the 
freedmen,  only  one  step  above  the  slaves,  were  utterly 
neglected  in  all  matters  of  education.  The  presumption 
must  be  that  the  reason  they  executed  their  inscriptions 
so  well  is  that  they  had,  in  their  mutual  federation  a  trade 

*?  Orell.  Arta  et  Opificia,  Vol.  II,  p.  258  of  Inter.  Lot.  Select  Colle>-tto,  No. 
4.239.  It  is  a  broken  fragment.  "  Qnadratariorum  opus  Angurius  Catullinug 
Uraar."  We  rt-ad :  "  Qaadratariorum  Corpus."  He  thus  ranks  it  as  a  union. 


368       CATEGORIES    OF   TRADE  FEDERATIONS. 

union  of  carvers  and  gravers  cselatores  whose  business  was 
to  work  in  letters.  It  was  consequently  a  part  of  their 
trade  to  study  sufficiently  the  Roman  and  Greek  literature 
to  do  their  work  well.  Gruter  mentions  several  of  them.28 
Orelli  tells  us  oi'  the  sculptor,  signarius  artifex,  who  worked 
in  signs.20  Any  of  these  could  make  their  signs  or  their 
monuments  and  tombstones  by  being  called  upon  at  any 
time;  but  we  are  reminded  that  then  as  now,  economy  was 
everything  and  that  consequently  they  themselves  might 
often  have  depended  upon  their  own  inexperienced  self- 
confidence  and  thus  have  committed  these  literary  faults 
which  as  amateurs  they  were  too  unlettered  to  rectify. 
The  quadratarii  were  the  true  stone  cutters'  unions  and 
the  probable  reason  why  they  are  not  numerous  is  that 
most  of  the  work  of  the  stone  cutters  was  done  by  the 
marmorarii,  marble  cutters  or  marble  masons.  Of  these 
we  find  inscriptions  of  genuine  trade  unions  in  consider- 
able numbers.  Now  this  paucity  of  hard  stone-cutters  and 
abundance  of  marble  cutters  is  easily  accounted  for.  The 
Geological  formation  of  the  Italian,  Hellenic  and  Spanish 
peninsulas  is  largely  of  carbonates  of  lime.  A  great  share 
of  the  Appenine  range  is  composed  of  fine  white  marble. 
Many  of  the  springs  and  even  mountain  rivers  of  Italy, 
Greece  and  the  Archipeligo  deposit  pure  marble.  Paros 
in  the  2Egian  Sea  was  long  a  rival  in  pure  white  marbles 
of  Pentelicus;  and  Mount  Marpessa  the  seat  of  its  quar- 
ries, may  be  considered  an  isolated  spur  of  the  Illj-rian 
Alps,  Mt.  Olympus  and  the  Cambunian  range.  All  through 
these  regions  exist  the  characteristic  marbles  used  in  an- 
tiquity before  the  superior  powers  of  duration  of  sand- 
stone and  granites  were  known.  The  splendid  marble 
quarries  of  Luna  in  Etruria  were  near  at  hand  and  others 
as  celebrated  in  history  were  always  available  to  the  mar- 
ble cutters'  unions  who  made  the  wonderful  temples  of 
Ceres  at  Eleusis,  of  the  Parthenon  at  Athens  and  many 
of  the  great  public  structures  at  Rome.  It  is  therefore, 
very  natural  that  the  marble  cutters'  unions  predominated 
over  the  sandstone  and  granite-cutters  in  point  of  num- 

28  Grut.  Insfr.  Ant.  Tot.  Orb.  Rom.,  583,  5.  This,  Gruter  mentions  as  a  sign' 
of  some  emancipated  slave—  Mibertus  qu:  post  manumissionem  vel  argentarii 
vel  caelatoris  artem  exercnerit."  But  it  often  happened  that  a  trade  union  was 
tascribed  under  the  name  of  its  mayister  or  director. 

as  Orcll.  Insiv.  Lat.  Select,  >io.  4,282. 


LIST  OF  THE  THIRTY-FIVE  TRADE  UNIONS.      369 

bers ;  and  this  explanation  we  accept  for  the  fewness  of 
trade  unions  found  among  the  inscriptions  under  the 
name  quadratarii  or  stone-cutters.  At  Rome,  even 
though  perhaps  many  worked  in  stone  harder  than  mar- 
ble, the  name  quadrat  at  ius  was  merged;  because  even 
the  marble  workers  hewed  and  shaped  large  square 
blocks.  We  have,  even  as  it  is,  enough  evidence  to  as- 
sure us  that  the  quadratnrii  existed  and  that  they  were 
organized  into  unions ;  for  this  is  distinctly  stated  in  the 
law  of  Constantine  of  the  year  337.  These,  with  the 
struct  ores  and  other  builders,  were  enumerated  in  the  list 
of  35  trade  unions  recognized  at  that  time.  These  35 
unions  are  permitted  by  this  law  to  exist;  although  we 
have  found  inscriptions  and  other  references  giving  evi- 
dence that  at  one  time  more  than  50  trade  unions  existed 
in  Italy,  representing  as  many  organized  trades,  and  mem- 
bers innumerable.  These  will  be  exhibited  as  we  proceed 
with  the  subject.  The  law  of  Constantine  gives  the  35 
trade  unions  existing  at  one  time  as  follows: 

1.  Albarii,™  plasterers;  2.  Architecti,  architects;  3.  Auri- 
fices,  goldsmiths;  4.  Blatiarii,  workers  in  mosaic;  5.  Car- 
pen  tarii,  wagon-makers;  6.  JErarii,  brass  and  copper- 
smiths ;  7.  Argentarii,  silversmiths ;  8.  Barbaricarii,  gold 
gilders;  9.  Diatritarii,  pearl  and  filigree-workers;  10. 
Aquce  Ubratores,  waterers;  11.  Deauratores,  auratores  or 
bracttarii,  gold  gilders,  beaters ;  12.  Eburarii,  ivory  work- 
ers; 13.  Figuli,  potters;  14.  Fullones,  fullers;  15.  Fer- 
rarii,  blacksmiths;  16.  Fusores,  founders;  17.  Intestina- 
rii,  joiners;  18.  Lapidarii,  lapidaries;  19.  Laquearii,  plas- 
terers ;  20.  Medici,  doctors ;  21.  Mvlo  medici,  horse  doc- 
tors, veternary  surgeons;  22.  Musivarii,  decorators;  23. 
Marmorarii,  marble-cutters;  24.  Pelliones,  furriers;  25. 
Pictores,  painters;  26.  Plumbarii,  plumbers;  27.  Quad- 
ratarii, stone-cutters ;  28.  Specularii,  looking-glass  makers; 
29.  Statuarii,  staturies;  30.  Scasores  or  Pavinientarii,  pav- 
ers: 31.  S'-ulptores,  sculptors;  32.  Struct  ores,  masons ;  33. 
Te-isellarii,  pavers  in  mosaic;  34.  Tignarii,  carpenters;  35. 
Vitriarii,  glaziers.31 

Here  we  have  the  building  trades  represented  in  Con- 
so  Codex  Jtiftiniarii,  10,  64.  1. 

•^  Mentioned  once  in  Orell  Infer,  4  277 ;  whereas  the  more  correctly  Latin 
term  IF  jr.v«n  l>y  bin;  as  an  organized  union.  Idem  4,112. 


370         CATEGORIES   OF  TRADE    UNIONS. 

stantine's  more  human  law  for  the  post-Christian  organi- 
zation. It  is  well  here  to  state  that  Constantine  "  became 
a  Christian,  being  the  first  who  threw  off  the  yoke  of  pag- 
anism. He  evidently  did  not  understand  its  true  ideas 
and  was  far  from  being  a  Christian  at  heart;  but  he  was 
a  politician,  and  Christian  enough  to  be  unbiased  by  the 
old  Pagan  belief  in  the  divine  aristocracy  of  the  gens  fam- 
ily, in  which  ratiocination  Cicero  had  believingly  fought 
the  unions  of  working  people  on  the  ground  of  their  un- 
fitness  to  aspire  to  freedom  and  manhood.  This  stereo- 
typed logic  of  the  Pagan  faith  based  on  the  divinity  of  the 
slave  code,  had  been  overthrown  and  completely  annihil- 
ated  by  the  new  doctrine  of  Jesus,  which  did  not  war 
against  slavery  but  subverted  it  by  a  new  idea  of  equality 
— a  plan  which,  at  the  time  of  Constantine,  was  already 
300  years  old. 

Of  the  artizans  in  the  building  trades  we  find  sufficient 
mention  in  history;  but  very  little  reference  to  their  or- 
ganization into  trade  unions.  Plutarch 33  and  others  state 
most  clearly  that  the  builders  were  all  ranked  into  a  class 
by  themselves  under  the  wise  distribution  of  King  Numa 
and  he  applies  for  them  the  Greek  term  technitai.  So  in 
Latin,  artifices.  They  held  this  organization  uninterrupt- 
edly for  600  years  at  Rome  and  under  the  much  praised 
laws  of  Solon,  nearly  as  many  years  in  Aktica  and  other 
parts  of  Greece.  In  the  year  58  before  Christ  the  con- 
spiracy laws  struck  them  a  hard  blow,  which  like  an  earth- 
quake severely  shook  them  as  far  as  the  Greek  provinces, 
their  primitive  cradle;  but  they  became  more  secret  and 
political,  rallied  and  outlived  their  persecutors. 

Among  the  other  builders'  unions  were  the  architects. 
These  interlinked  with  the  masons,  carpenters,  joiners  and 
others  whenever  a  building  was  ordered  by  the  govern- 
ment; and  contracted  to  do  the  work  at  prices  agreed 
upon.  The  intestinarii"  or  as  we  call  them,  the  joiners, 
or  inside  finishers  of  buildings,  had  also  their  trade  or- 

«  See  De  Excsalionibut.  Artificum,  in  Codex  Theodosii,  lib.  13,  tit,  4,  lex.  2. 

88  Plutarch  Life  of  Numa.    Numa  and  Lycurpus  Compared. 

84  Mnratori,  Thesaurus  Veterum  Inscriptionum,  937,  7,  mentions  a  fine  incrip- 
tion  found  at  Capua  which  is  interesting,  as  it  shows  the  plausibility  of  our  con- 
jecture, in  the  ske_tch  of  Spartatus,  as  to  the  causes  of  the  immense  multitude  of 
freedmen  who  joined  his  army  "Fabri  intestinarii  secundum  Budeeum,  ex 
ligno  opera  confeciebant  minutioris  artificii,  quibus  tan  turn  locus  est  intra  »des.': 
Seij-i.  Mur.  929,  6. 


UNIONS    USED   AS  PEACE-MAKERS.          371 

ganizations  and  appear  to  have  been  in  the  federation  in 
undertaking  contracts  to  erect  and  finish  temples  or  other 
public  edifices. 

An  organization  of  plasterers  is  also  recognized  in  the 
law  of  Justianian  and  exempted  from  persecution,  by  the 
code  of  Theodosius.  These  unions  are  not  mentioned  in 
Plutarch's  list  of  Numa's  trades  because  the  latter  consol- 
idated the  building  trades  into  one  general  fraternity  with 
an  object,  as  Plutarch  explicitly  recounts,  of  conciliating 
the  jealousies  of  nationality  well-known  to  have  been  a 
cause  of  contention  and  turmoil  between  the  Albans  and 
Sabines.  By  "  breaking  them  up  into  powder,"  to  use  his 
own  words,  Numa  taught  them  to  mix  and  the  contact  of 
the  particles  produced  a  perfectly  conciliatory  effect.  In 
other  words,  throw  off  the  question  of  boundary  lines 
which  disturb  workingmen  and  they  instantly  see  that 
"an  injury  to  one  is  the  concern  of  all" 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  ARMY  SUPPLIES. 

ORGANIZED  ARMOR-MAKERS  OF  ANTIQUITY. 

TRADE  UNIONS  TURNED  to  the  Manufacture  of  Arms  and  Muni- 
tions of  War — How  it  came  about — The  Iron  and  Metal 
Workers — Artists  in  the  Alloys — How  Belligerent  Rome 
was  Furnished  with  Weapons,  Shoes  and  Other  Necessa- 
ries for  Her  Warriors — The  Shieldmakers,  Arrowsmiths, 
Daggermakers,  War-Grun  and  Slingmakers,  Battering-Ram- 
makers  etc. — Bootmakers  who  Cobbled  for  the  Roman  Troops 
— Wine  Men,  Bakers  aud  Sutlers — All  Organized — Unions 
of  Oil  Grinders;  of  Pork  Butchers;  even  of  Cattle  Fodderers 
— The  Haymakers — Organized  Fishermen — Ancient  Labor 
brought  charmingly  near  by  Inscriptions. 

OF  the  nine  regular  trade  unions  authorized  by  Numa 
Pompilius,  one  was  that  of  the  metal  workers.  They  were 
all  incorporated  into  a  community,  as  workers  of  hard 
metals,  before  iron  came  to  be  much  in  use.1  Writers 
who  lived  in  ancient  times  often  treat  the  subject  of  use- 
ful metals  in  the  light  that  iron  and  steel  did  not  come 
into  xise  until  after  the  foundation  of  Rome,  or  758  years 
anterior  to  the  Christian  era.  At  that  early  time  how- 
ever, the  asrarii  or  metal  workers  melted  copper  with  the 
ores  of  zink  and  knew  how  to  sprinkle  the  zink  with  pow- 
dered charcoal  during  the  process  of  its  fusion  with  cop- 
per to  prevent  it  from  escaping  in  fumes  of  the  oxide.  It 
may  also  be  stated  that  little  improvement  has  ever  been 
made  in  the  manufacture  of  brass ;  and  even  the  ancient 
process  of  using  zink  ore  instead  of  the  refined  article  did 
not  come  into  use  until  A.  D.  1781.  It  would  not  be  sur- 

i  Lucretius,  speaking  of  brass,  says : "  Et  prior  erat  seris  quam  ferri  cognitus 
nsuB." 


TRADE  UNIONS  BUILT  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE.   373 

prising  if  further  investigations  should  lead  to  the  dis- 
covery that  it  was  the  enterprise  of  trade  unions  which  led 
to  this  and  other  inventions  and  discoveries  in  the  arts; 
for  the  purely  slave  system  did  little  or  nothing  for  art 
or  science  and  the  earliest  forms  of  industry  outside  of 
slavery  seems  to  have  been  those  of  workmen  combined 
for  mutual  aid.  Flavius  Josephus  in  his  history  of  the 
Jews  makes  elaborate  mention  of  Solomon's  temple,  as  hav- 
ing been  built  in  a  large  degree  by  the  trade  unions  un- 
der Hiram  a  man  of  extraordinary  skill  in  the  building 
crafts.  Not  willing  to  accept  our  own  interpretation  of 
Josephus,  we  refer  the  reader  to  the  remarks  of  Granier 
upon  this  subject ; 2  as  he  seems  to  have  settled  it  that 
they  were  organized  trades. 

Little  doubt  can  be  entertained  that  iron,  at  the  time  of 
Numa,  was  also  in  use  at  Rome.3  Yet  there  is  no  men- 
tion made  in  proof  that  Numa  organized  the  /errant  or 
iron  workers  of  whom  Orelli  furnishes  two  inscriptions,4 
one  of  which  represents  a  genuine  trade  union,  which 
proves  beyond  any  counter  evidence  that  the  iron  work- 
ers were  organized.  But  abundant  evidence  exists  in  the 
later  laws  restricting  organization,  and  these  clubs  stand 
among  the  excused,  in  the  list  of  35  unions  of  the  code  of 
Theodosius.  If  any  further  doubt  can  possibly  remain  as 
to  the  use  of  iron  by  blacksmiths,  forgers  and  finishers  at 
the  time  of  Numa,  we  have  only  to  refer  the  critic  to 
Homer,  and  the  celebrated  historic  inscription  called  the 
Arundelian  slab,  also  to  the  bible.5 

2  Josephus,  Antiquities  of  the  Jews,  book  VII,  chap,  ii,  noticed  by  Granier. 
Hittore  de*  dlasset  Ouvrieres,  p.  289,  note :  "  Ce  que  Flavins  Joseph  raconte  ties 
travaux  qui  furent,  a  plusiers  reprises,  executes  a  Jerusalem,  soil  pour  batir  le 
temple,  soil  pour  le  relever  on  le  reparer,  ne  permet  pas  de  douter  que  les  cur- 
riers, tant  jnifs  que  sidoniens,  qu'on  y  employa,  ne  fnssent  organises  en  corpo  - 
ations,    D'ailleurs  toute  eepece  de  doute  est  leve  par  le  passage  suivant,  ou  il  est 
clairement  parle  de  la  hierarchic  qui  regnait  parmi  ces  ouvriers,  et  des  trois  mille 
deux  ceuts  MAITBES  qn'avaient  les  quatre-vingt  mille  magons  occupes  aux  mu- 

railles  du  temple:   Kirav  &'  «<t  rtav  irapoiKiav  ovs  Aauiijjs  KaTaAeAoi.  <t TUP 

Je  Aa.TOfiovi'Tcot'  OICTOXIVJ  fivpioi-  -rovriav  &'  cirt^arai  rptviAioi  icai  Tpiaxucrioi." 

3  Pliny,  A'at.  Hist.,  XXXIV,  89  says :  "  Proxime  indicari  debent  metalla  ferri, 
Optimo  pessimoque  viue  instrumento." 

•»  Orel'.,  Insnripttonum  Laiinarvm  Sekctarwn,  Xos.  4,066  and  1,239.  The 
first  of  these  is  a  union  of  sling  makers  who  constructed  out  of  iron  the  formid- 
able balistie  which  threw  with  deadly  effect  stones  and  other  missiles  into  the 
ranks  of  an  enemy,  it  reads  as  follows:  "Volcano  sacr.  T.  Flavius  Florua 
Sacerdos  Dei  Solis  iStatua  Marmoris  Collegii  balistariorum  et  Collegii  ferrario- 
rum."  It  was  found  at  Kome  and  catalogued  by  Donati,  II,  p.  225,  8.  We  nil 
out  the  abbreviated  words. 

6  Homer,  Hiad  XXIII,  261,  ••  "Hi*  yvva.ias  ivfavovf,  Tro\iov  r'  <ri6r)poi>-"  Sam. 
Pettifs  Studies  of  the  Arundelian  Inscription;  Bible,  Genftii,  chap.  IV.  Job,  chap, 
XXVII. 


374  HOME'S   ARMY  SUPPLIES. 

The  silver  and  gold  workers  did  not  confederate  with 
these  metal  workers.  We  reserve  mention  of  them  for  a 
place  farther  on.  Orelli,  among  his  inscriptions  gives 
sufficient  specimens  carved  upon  marble  and  other  slabs, 
pome  of  which  have  stood  the  grim  erosions  of  the  ages  of 
time  that  have  seen  all  things  else  crumble  into  dust  since 
they  were  fresh  from  the  chisel  of  the  caslatores.6 

After  the  death  of  Numa  the  doors  of  the  temple  of 
Tanus  were  again  flung  open,  which  meant  that  Rome  was 
again  ready  for  war.  This  king  had  closed  them  as  was 
customary  in  time  of  peace.  He  desired  peace  with  the 
'  vorld  in  order  that  the  nation  might  develop  upon  its  own 
resources,  and  by  its  own  labor.  The  43  years  of  his 
peaceful  reign  gave  the  artisans  time  to  organize,  forget 
iUeir  petty  disagreements  and  settle  down  upon  a  basis  of 
Maternity  and  thrift.  And  they  not  only  developed  their 
okill  but  organized  it  so  that  after  the  king's  death,  when 
war  again  broke  out,  the  nation  found  these  metal  workers 
ready  to  turn  their  skilled  labor  to  manufacturing  swords, 
shields  and  all  the  arms  and  munitions  of  the  contests 
"vhich  followed. 

Thus  labor  at  Rome  did  not  suffer  by  war,  because  the 
Roman  arms  were  successful  through  a  long  period  of 
*>00  years.  During  this  time  the  Romans  conquered  the 
with  arms  manufactured  to  some  extent  and  we  are 
to  think,  to  a  very  great  extent,  by  the  iron  and 
•netal  workers  organized  by  Numa.  They  loved  their  trade 
unions  and  remained  organized,  working  in  fraternal  bond, 
in  common  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  their  united  labor 
in  spite  of  several  attempts  on  the  part  of  the  senate  to 
put  them  down.  The  system,  as  we  have  already  shown, 
was  to  manufacture  arms  and  other  munitions  of  war 
directly  for  the  government  out  of  raw  material  which  be- 
'•onged  to  and  was  produced  from,  the  mines  of  the  gov- 
'rnment. 

We  have  seen  that  the  land  belonged  to  the  Roman 
state ;  that  it  was  farmed  by  the  proletaries  on  shares  and 
that  these  shares  were  collected  mostly  "  in  kind,"  by  an 
organization  of  unions.  These  customs-collectors  distri- 
buted the  products  of  the  land  each  year  among  the  citi- 

6  Orell.  in  his  Latin  Inscriptions,  numbers  the  ceelatores  as  follows:  Nos- 
4  133,  4.060.  4.066,  4,140,  4,061,  1,239.  361  and  946.  Each  of  these  numbers 
chronicles  a  genuine  trade  union. 


IRON  . AND    METAL    WORKERS.  375 

zen  class  who  virtually  possessed  and  comprised  the  govern- 
ment. So  also  with  regard  to  the  mines  which  produced 
raw  material  for  the  iron  and  other  metal  workers  to  con- 
vert into  lances,  darts,  swords  and  all  sorts  of  armor  for 
the  Roman  army.  With  the  land,  the  mines  also  belonged 
to  the  government.  There  consequently  had  to  be  a  trade 
union  of  miners  whom  the  Romans  called  ferrariarii?  if 
miners  of  iron,  and  ser.fodinarii,  if  miners  of  copper. 

These  miners  of  Copper  and  iron  were  naturally  feder- 
ated together.  Neither  the  union  of  forgers  and  smiths 
nor  of  the  copper  and  brass  or  bronze  workers  could  buy 
and  exploit  their  own  mining  works  in  order  to  supply  the 
workmen  and  fulfill  their  contracts  with  the  government, 
because  they  did  not  own  the  mines.  Nor  could  the  work- 
men at  the  mines  accomplish  such  an  end.  The  govern- 
ment possessed  the  mines  and  in  many  cases  let  them  to 
contractors.  It  remained,  therefore,  for  the  workmen 
whose  managers  were  often  the  contractors,  to  preserve 
a  close  federation  of  their  trades,  no  matter  how  distant 
they  were  located  apart.  We  are  told 8  that  at  the  winter 
quarters  of  the  rebel  army  of  Spartacus  at  Thuria,  he  es- 
tablished an  armory  of  large  proportions.  It  was  near 
the  mountains  and  probably  near  mines  of  iron  and  cop- 
per ;  and  as  his  army  was  composed  of  workingmen,  many 
of  whom  were  skilful  artisans  they  co-operated  as  by  com- 
mon consent,  and  practically  used  their  federation  at  both 
the  mines  and  the  forge.  The  iron  and  metal  workers, 
who  were  thus  confederated  or  "  distributed "  by  Numa 
into  unions  for  the  purpose  of  harmony  in  the  arts  of 
peace,  were,  after  his  death,  thus  kept  in  the  same  bond 
of  union  many  hundred  years,  helping  Rome  to  practice 
her  arts  of  war.  The  plan  of  Government  employment 
directly,  without  middlemen  was  a  happy  one  and  the  long 
vista  of  time  from  the  trade  union  laws  of  Numa  to  the 
conspiracy  laws  of  Cicero  and  Csesar  was  the  true  golden 
age  of  Rome. 

Immediately  after  the  death  of  Numa  Pompillius,  that 
wisest  of  monarcbs,  perhaps,  of  whom  the  world's  history 
makes  mention,  the  doors  of  the  celebrated  temple  of 
Janus  were  thrown  open  and  Mars,  the  bellicose  myth 

'  Mnratori.  Thesaurus  Veterum  Inscriptionum^  972,  1O,  also  idem.  963,  2. 
8  Plutarch,  Crassus,  VIII,  XII.    See  also  Floras,  III.  20,  6,  speaking  of  impro- 
vising weapons.    "  E  ferro  egastulornm  recocto  gladios  ac  tela  facetnnt-" 


376  ROME'S    ARMY  SUPPLIES. 

war-god  rushed  out  with  trumpets,  javelins  and  the  clangor 
of  contention.  We  are  going  to  recount  one  seemingly 
phenomenal  instance  in  human  history  where  labor  and 
war  existed  harmoniously  and  thrived  together.  The  king 
in  instructing  his  people  in  the  arts  of  peace  had  actually 
laid  the  foundation  for  the  most  gigantic  successes  ever 
before  known  in  the  arts  of  war!  He  had  taught  the 
state  to  employ  the  labor  of  trade  unions  direct.  He  had 
taught  how  to  do  this  without  the  complications,  individual 
emulations,  avaricious  ambitions  and  failures  which,  in 
wars  often  break  up  great  schemes  through  the  jealousy 
and  incompetence  of  individual  rule.  He  had  simplified 
th*e  labor  of  production,  distribution,  consumption  by 
himself  employing  all  the  artisans  of  his  realm  and  direct- 
ing them  to  husband  the  resources  of  the  state  which  was 
then  the  owner  of  the  lands,  mines  and  the  waters.  The 
workers  being  themselves  exempt  from  serving  in  war  by 
reason  of  their  supposed  ignoble  origin  and  rank,  had  no 
fear  of  the  tedious  campaign  nor  dread  of  the  carnage  of 
battle.  They  knew  how  to  make  the  steel  that  was  to 
pierce  the  bodies  of  those  they  loved  not,  and  whom  when 
they  were  enslaved,  their  ancestors  had  hated  as  mortal 
foes.  They  were  happy'.  Rome  was  turned  into  a  vast 
armory.  The  members  of  the  well  organized  unions  were 
the  first  to  receive  employment  from  the  government 
which  was  not  theirs  and  for  500  years  were  the  last  to  be 
maltreated  or  discharged. 

Had  it  been  possible  for  king  Numa  to  live  and  reign 
with  his  peace  measures  during  those  500  years  we  know 
not  what  would  have  been  the  consequence  but  it  would 
have  probably  resulted  in  a  far  different  destiny  for  the 
human  race.  His  scheme  was  to  cultivate  the  elements 
of  peace  and  he  was  wise  enough  to  understand  that  la- 
bor was  a  respectable  factor.  Under  him  it  was  indeed 
becoming  a  cult;  and  could  he  have  lived  long  enough  to 
engraft  his  peace  system,  with  all  its  civilizing  and  sooth- 
ing effects,  until  the  people  far  and  near  had  endorsed  it 
as  a  second  nature,  the  irascible  and  grasping  as  well  as 
the  concupiscent  ingredients  of  our  nature  which  domi- 
nate warlike  tribes  must  have  absorbed  enough  of  the 
great  refining  gem  of  sympathy,  to  have  started  the  Indo- 
Enropeans  in  quite  a  different  direction  from  the  murder- 


TRADE   UNIONS  MADE  THE   WEAPONS.        377 

ous  warpath  of  conquest  which  they  actually  took,  leading 
to  ignorance  and  brutality.  It  might  have  been  better  for 
the  trade  unions  to  contine  manufacturing  the  implements 
of  peace  as  Nutna  ordered.  But  so  long  as  the  Roman 
arms  prevailed,  Roman  trade  organizations  under  the  war 
system  were  safe;  and  the  workmen  doubtless  cared  little 
for  the  refinements  of  peace,  although  the  neutral  posi- 
tion they  assumed  as  workingmen  and  their  educational 
discussions  among  themselves  certainly  developed  more  of 
sympathy  and  far  less  of  cupidity  and  irascibility  than 
was  possessed  by  the  optimates  who  managed  and  fought 
out  the  brutal  orgies  of  warfare. 

From  the  foregoing  we  know  that  no  great  amount  of 
work  was  done  by  the  iron  and  metal  workers  in  the  line 
of  armor  manufacture  during  the  lifetime  of  J\ruma.  Af- 
ter his  death,  when  the  warring  spirit  of  the  patrician 
class  was  aroused  to  anticipations  of  the  ancient  scenes  of 
valor  and  blood,  it  was  found  that  Rome  was  without  arms 
and  munitions  of  war.  The  helmets  and  shields,  the  sa- 
bres and  javelins  had  been  forged  into  mattocks,  spades 
and  cutlery  of  domestic  use.  It  was  necessary  to  make  a 
new  beginning.  That  the  ferrarii  or  iron  workers  pos- 
sessed a  federation  with  the  sword  cutlers  is  certain,  al- 
though the  exact  date  of  that  co-operation  is  difficult  to 
ascertain.  It  must  have  been  old,  however.  A  number 
of  inscriptions  bearing  evidence  of  this  are  recorded  by 
Orfclli ;  '  and  we  have  distinct  mention  in  the  digest10 — 
showing  that  these  unions  or  fraternities  of  workmen  were 
fixed  by  law.  The  trade  unions  had  then  in  their  federa- 
tion the  gladiarii  or  sword  cutlers,  the  sagitarii  or  arrow- 
smiths,  the  scutarii  or  elliptical  shield  makers  who,  how- 
ever, made  this  armor  of  wood  and  sometimes  covered  it 
with  thick  rawhide,  sometimes  with  plate  metal ;  and  the 
clipearii  or  round  shield  makers  who  made  them  of  copper 
or  bronze;  the  telarii  or  manufacturers  of  darts  and  jave- 
lins ;  the  scalperii,  knife  makers,  and  the  hastarii  or  spear 
makers.  There  was  another  trade  union,  the  collegium 
ballistariorum,n  mentioned  also  in  the  digest,13  the  special 

»  Orell.,  Inter.  Lai.  Select.  Coll  Nos.  4,197,  4,247,  Artes  el  Opificia. 

10  Tarrunt 50,  6,  6,  dig.  "gladiarii,  gagittarii,  Carpentaria,  aquflces,  scandu- 
larii,  etc." 

11  Orell..  idem.  No.  4.066,  Donati,  2,  p.  225. 

>*  Tarrunt,  dig.  50,  6,  6.    This  was  a  genuine  trade  union  which  had  a  con 


373  ROME'S   ARMY   SUPPLIES. 

business  of  whose  numbers  was  to  manufacture  the  cele- 
brated ballista,  a  kind  of  mitrailleuse,  or  stone  thrower, 
which  with  great  force  and  deadly  effect  flung  large  peb- 
bles or  small  stones  and  other  projectiles  into  the  ranks 
of  an  enemy.  Much  engineering  skill  was  required  to 
operate  this  engine  of  war.  Doubtless  the  unions  were 
obliged  to  send  their  own  mechanics  to  adjust  and  manip- 
ulate these  huge  engines.  But  it  is  more  probable  *  3  that 
they  were  federated  with  the  great  trade  union  now 
known  by  numerous  very  interesting  and  unmistakable 
inscriptions  as  the  collegium  mensorum  machinariorum141 
or  trade  union  of  machine  adjusters  and  setters, -whose 
business  was  to  oversee  the  work  of  transporting  any 
finished  machinery  to  the  place  of  its  destination  and 
supervise  or  perform  the  work  of  setting  it  in  operation. 
The  body  or  union 15  which  is  referred  to  in  the  inscrip- 
tion given  in  the  foot-note  below  evidently  combined  the 
two  functions  of  trade  union  and  burial  society.  Furius 
and  Lollius  were  officers,  being  both  members  of  the 
society  of  machinists;  and  were  buried  at  the  expense 
of  the  funeral  branch  and  out  of  the  funeral  fund.  The 
amount  of  25  denarii 16  was  mentioned  for  the  funeral 
expenses.  Roses  costing  5  more  were  to  be  put  upon 
the  coffin.  For  the  funeral  expenses  of  their  aged  par- 
ents one-half  this  amount  wag-  to  be  appropriated.  In 
case  these  requirements  were  not  conformed  to,  there 
would  be  a  forfeiture  on  the  part  of  the  trade  union  of 
double  this  sum  annually,  which  forfeiture  should  be 
covered  into  the  treasury  of  the  funeral  branch. 

siderable  membership,  as  the  construction  of  these  huge  engines  required  much 
labor  and  skill. 

13  Mommsen  constantly  bemoans  the  silence  of  historians  on  these  extremely 
interesting  subjects      We  render  for  our  readers  some  of  his  own  lamentations: 
"The  deep  silence  of  the  stones  containing  the  inscribed  constitutioric  and  re- 
strictions, prevents  us  from  determinii  g  which  (meaning  the  trade  unions  were 
under  the  law  and  which  adverse  to  the  privileges  granted  by  the  senate)."    De 
Coll.  et  Sodal.  Romanorum,  p.  80.) 

14  Gruterins.  Inscriptions  Antiques  Totius  Orbis  Romanorum,  91,  1.     Murator- 
ius,  Thesaurus  Veterum  Inscriptirmum,  523,  3.     Orellius,  Inscriptionum  Latinarum 
CoUectio,  No.  4,107.     The  inscription  reads:  "D,  M.  C.  Turius,  C    T.  Lollius 
quitquit  ex  corpore  mensorum  machinariornm  funeraticii  nomine  sequetur,  re- 
liqnm  penes  Rempubllcam  super  scriptam  remanere  volo  ex  cujus  ueiiris  peto  a 
vobis  college  uti  suscipere  dignemini  VI  difbus  solemnibus  sacriticium  mihr 
faciatis.    Id  est  III1  id.  mart,  die  natalis  mei  ugque  ad  XXV  ,  denario?  ,    Paren- 
talis  XII  semis.    FlosrosnV.    Si  factanon  fnerins,  tune,  fcsco  stacionis  anmonsa 
duplum  fnneraticium  dare  debebetis  " 

1*  See  Orel!., /wer  Lot.Coll.,\o\  TIT,  p.  170.    Varia  collceiorum  nomlna 
16  A  Roman  denarius  of  the  period  of  Cicero  was  wonh  16J4  cents.    Bi'^kb. 


ANCIENT  BATTERING   RAMS.  379- 

This  strange,  progressive  co-operation  of  the  lowly,, 
industrious,  ingenious  but  despised  moiety  of  the  anci- 
ent people  may  justly  be  regarded  as  a  lost  lesson.  Un- 
til now  it  has  rested  in  prof oundest  darkness.  So  utterly 
ignored  was  labor  by  the  ancient  historians 1T  that  even 
the  nominal  terminations  affixed  to  nouns  and  particles 
in  the  Latin  tongue,  giving  the  technical  forms  that  were 
in  commonest  use  for  artizans  of  every  kind,  do  not  ap- 
pear, if  we  except  a  very  few  in  Pliny  and  one  or  two- 
other  writers  on  art.  On  account  of  this  extraordinary 
neglect  our  lexicographers  are  obliged  to  have  constant 
recourse  to  modern  archaeologists  in  whose  works  ap- 
pear inscriptions  verbatim,  from  the  time-crumbled 
stones !  From  no  other  source  can  they  with  classic 
authority  complete  the  vocabularies  of  the  language ! 
But  this  authority  is  justly  considered  good.  These 
stones  tell  tales  which  the  prevaricating,  mellifluous  sy- 
cophants at  the  court  of  the  Caesars  dared  not  smirch 
their  parchment  with. 

The  arietarii  or  battering  ram  makers  do  not  appear 
as  belonging  to  a  union  by  themselves.  If  this  was  ever 
the  case  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover  any  inscrip- 
tion bearing  record  of  the  fact.  But  they  existed.  Livy 
repeatedly  speaks  of  the  aries-  or  battering  ram  ;  and  it  is 
known  to  have  been  at  first  a  simple  device,  consisting  of 
a  huge  beam  sometimes  150  feet  long  which  a  large  force 
of  men  held  on  their  shoulders  and  by  repeated  back- 
ward and  forward  runs,  the  bronze-plated  ram  or  head, 
striking  against  the  wall  of  an  enemy's  town,  broke  or 
rammed  down  the  masonry  so  that  the  soldiers  rushed 
through  the  breaches  and  sacked  the  place.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  these  ram  makers  were  merged  into  the 
membership  of  the  catapultarii  or  balistarii1*  who  manu- 
factured these  huge  machines,  in  connection  with  the 
catapults  or  stone  slings.  However  this  may  have  been, 
it  was  certainly  due  to  the  ingenuity  and  industry  of  the 
machinists  that  the  battering  ram  developed  from  this 
simple  form  until,  in  its  state  of  perfection,  it  was  hung 
by  chains  to  the  boom  of  a  tripod  fastened  by  guys ;  and 

17  Drummann,  Arb.  u.  Comn.,  p,  155.  "  Bef ricdigende  Xachrichten  sncht 
man  verL'abens." 

»  Orel).  No.  4,066,  Balistariorum  Collegium 


330  ROME^S    ARMY  SUPPLIES 

thus  swayed  forward  and  backward  by  human  or  mule 
power  so  as  to  beat  down  the  strongest  walls. 

Then  among  others  of  the  armor  maters  were  the  jac- 
ulatorii  or  slingers.  Darts,  jacula,  were  in  common  use 
with  the  ancients.  They  were  easily  broken,  were  of 
short  duration  and  consequently  had  to  be  manufactured 
in  large  quantities ;  and  we  are  told  they  were  manufac- 
tured along  with  other  armaments  in  Kome  and  other 
industrial  centers,  by  the  unions  who  found  in  the  gov- 
ernment a  reliable  employer  that  paid  well  for  the  work.19 

The  Collegium  Caligariorum  (soldiers'  boot  makers  or 
cobblers),  was  a  trade  union  of  shoemakers  who  manu- 
factured and  supplied  shoes  for  the  army.*'  During  the 
warlike  ages  which  intervened  between  the  reign  of 
Numa  Pompilius  and  the  first  emperors,  a  large  army 
was  almost  constantly  employed  by  the  Roman  govern- 
ment. These  had  to  be  supplied  with  food,  clothing, 
barracks,  tents  and  impedimenta  and  all  the  parapherna- 
lia of  war.  In  those  times,  to  be  a  soldier  was  a  grace ; 
to  be  a  cobbler  a  disgrace ;  and  as  the  membership  of 
the  collegia  was  always  composed  of  freedmen  or  emanci- 
pated slaves,  with  their  children  and  their  children's 
children  who  constituted  the  great  proletariat  of  Rome, 
the  labor  which  their  fore  fathers  performed  as  slaves, 
came  down  with  them  in  disgrace.  This  is  the  real  origin 
of  the  taint  of  labor — the  social  degradation  of  the  poor 
•who  performed  it.  It  is  the  blackened  obloquy,  flinging 
its  attendant  odium  and  fastening  its  stain  alike  on  him 
who  performs  and  on  his  performance.  These  corvine 
liaters  of  those  who  fed  them,  painted  social  rank  festooned 
in  contumacy  which  fastened  upon  and  clung  tight  to  the 
heart  and  soul  of  both  rich  and  poor,  cowing  the  work- 
men into  the  unmanly  belief  that  both  labor  and  the  la- 
borer were  as  mean  as  they  were  believed  to  be.  Thus 
contempt  for  labor  had  descended  from  generation  to 
generation  with  an  ignoble  belief  in  the  lowliness  of  so- 

19  Granier,  Histoirt  ctes  Classes  Ouvrib-es,  chap,  xii,  pp.  302-304.     "Dans  son 
C3te,  le  gouvernement  avait  beaoin  de  trouver  tonjours  nn  nombre  et  une  vari- 
4te  cl'ouoriers  sufflsants  pour  execnter  see  ouvroges:  et  quels  ouvr;iges  que  ceux 
qu'  a  fait  ex^uter  le  gonvernemetit  Koinain  I     Que  de  temples  et  quels  temples! 
VJue  d'  aquerluoa  et  quels  arjueclucs  I     Que  de  pouts  et  quels  pouts!  " 

20  Gruter,  Irucr.  Ant.  Rom.,  649,  1.    See  also  Drumaun.  Arbeiier  und  Commv- 
ItisUn,  in,  Rom,  who,  quotinpt  Cicirp,  Pro  F,'acc.  7,  says:  "Eben  so  die  Schuster 
trt'ores,  welche  Cicero  mit  d^n  Gurtlern,  zonariif,  als  verachtliche  Volksklasse 
u,.nnt.  bildeten  eine  besondere  Zuntt  nacii  Xuraas  Einrichtung.'' 


STATE  EMPLOY    OF  TRADE    UNIONS.        381 

cial  grade.  But  the  work  of  the  soldier  was  honorable. 
At  first,  only  the  patrician  and  his  sons,  the  grandees  of 
the  realm,Jcould  enjoy  the  honor  of  a  soldier's  life.  But 
times  had  changed.  The  slave  who  became  a  freedman 
had  organized  himself  into  the  union  of  resistance  against 
oppression  and  we  find  him  now  a  member  of  the  soldier's 
shoemaking  union,  by  far  the  happier  man  of  the  two,  pur- 
veying boots  and  shoes  to  the  comparatively  useless  ranks, 
of  the  Roman  army  whose  trade,  like  that  of  the  brigands, 
was  to  rob  and  destroy,  not  to  produce.  Especially  must 
this  great  truth  have  gladdened  him,  since  by  reason  of 
his  organization  which  at  that  time  there  was  no  law  to 
forbid,  he  realized  easier  times.  There  were  then  no  or- 
ganized, competing  industries,  monopolizing  his  busi- 
ness. In  the  certitude  of  employment  and  its  remuner- 
ation, though  there  was  little  hope  of  affluance,  he  wa  s 
content.31  This  was  certainly  the  Golden  era.  The  in- 
scriptions bear  witness  that  the  society  became  the  in- 
strument of  much  social  pleasure  and  probably  instruc- 
tion. Indeed,  this  could  not  have  been  otherwise  as  all 
the  testimony  of  experience  in  the  scale  of  social  pleas- 
ures and  means  of  advancement  were  similar  to  those  of 
exactly  similar  unions  of  our  own  times.  Working  peo- 
ple were  not  honored  by  any  of  the  noble  or  heroic  pro- 
fessions ;  such  as  the  pursuits  of  war,  which  were  not 
considered  ignoble',  or  of  writing  the  history  of  war.8* 

21  The  whole  truth  is,  government  patronized,  employed  and  protected  the 
trade  unions  for  more  than  500  years.  Gramer  in  correctly  denying  that  either 
the  very  rich  or  the  indignant  individuals  upheld  the  unions,  says:  "Restait 
ennn  le  gouvernmeut.  C'  etait  la  le  vrai  client  des  jurandes,  et  lea  travaux  en- 
trepris  par  lui  1'ormait  le  seul  atelier  permanent  ou  les  ouvriers  pussent  gagner. 
chaque  jour  leur  salaire."  Granier,  Hulnre  des  Classes  OuvriZrs,  p.  303.  Again* 
idem,  pp.  303-4,  Granier  says:  "De  eon  cote,  le  gouvernement  avait  bespin  de 
trouver  toujours  un  nombre  et  une  variete  d'ouvriers  sufflsants  pour  executer 
ses  ouvrages;  et  quels  ouvrages  que  ceux  qu'a  fait  executer  le  gouvernement 
remain!  Que  de  temples  et  quels  temples  I  Que  d'aqueducs,  et  quels  aque- 
ducs!  Que  <le  ponts,  et  quels  ponts  !  lei  les  nombreaux  ouvriers  de  Catou,  leu 
cinq  cents  ouvriers  de  Crassus  n'auraient  pu  rien  faire;  il  fallait  des  corpora- 
tions, des  colleges  de  travailleurs;  et  c'est  parce  qu'ilsse  flrent  perpetuellement 
lenrs  patrons  et  leurs  commanditaires,  que  le  senat  et  les  empereurs  s'immis- 
cerent  dans  leurs  statuts.  La  loi  des  Douze  Tables,  qui  ordonne  a  toute  corpor- 
ation de  se  conformer  aux  lois  generates  de  1'Etat,  est  done  en  realite  le  premier 
privilege  etabli  en  faveur  des  classes  ouvrieres  deja  organisees  regulierement  a 
cette  epoque."  According  to  this,  the  Roman  government  was  the  employer  of 
the  trade  unions  to  an  enormous  extent;  and  this  explains  the  cause  of  the  ter- 
rible conflicts  reaching  from  the  time  of  Viriathus  to  the  suppression  of  the 
unions.  B.  C,  58. 

-2  So  proud  was  the  gens  family  that  even  convicts,  condemned  to  the  Roman 
prisons  lor  lile,  ?f  of  noble  extraction,  could  not  be  put  to  hard  labor  because  it 
would  tarnish,  not  the  man,  but  the  family  or  gens  name.  This  could  not  be  sul- 


382  ROME'S  ARMY  SUPPLIES. 

"Very  few  pursuits  involving  labor  were  looked  upon  as 
fitting  a  gentleman  in  ancient  days;  and  any  admixture 
however  indifferent  in  these  pursuits,  sullied  the  proud 
claims  to  aristocracy  and  family  prestige. 

The  trade  union  system  therefore,  which  assumed  the 
entire  care  and  responsiblity  of  all  labor  both  in  produc- 
tion and  distribution,  except  that  performed  by  the  slaves 
who  always  lingered  upon  the  geiis  estates,  was  an  econ- 
omy to  the  ruling  minority;  for  it  relieved  them  from 
the  real  perplexities  of  toil,  and  it  gratified  their  pride 
by  absolving  them  from  the  stigma  which  attached  to  all 
manipulations  of  producing  and  distributing  that,  with- 
out which  they  must  have  starved. 

We  propose  to  devote  a  few  pages  to  a  consideration 
-of  the  great  trade  union  method  of  victualing  not  only 
this  non- working  minority  and  the  army  but  the  entire 
population  of  Rome.  In  the  closely  allied  branch  of  this 
great  system — that  of  the  customs  collectors — we  have 
already  approximately  shown  what  may  be  called  this  sys- 
tem in  outline ;  we  shall  soon  give  the  system  itself. 

The  use  of  wine  was  very  common  in  those  countries 
in  ancient  times  and  was  aa  important  article  of  food. 
There  were  two  communes  of  wine  dealers,  one  at  Rome 
and  one  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber.  Maffeus  cites  an  in- 
scription, which  was  found  at  Verona.23  Its  date  is  that 
of  the  emperors,  as  it  has  the  name  of  Augustus,  and  it 
portrays  a  genuine  union  of  the  wine  men  who  furnished 
Home  with  that  beverage.  These  organizations  were  in 
communication  with  the  productive  interior  of  Italy  and 
may  have  had  wagons  and  boats,  either  of  their  own,  or 
engaged  and  paid  by  them  to  bring  the  wine  to  their 
storehouses ;  if  wagons,  direct  to  the  city  ;  and  if  ships 
or  boats,  to  the  port  of  Ostia  where  it  was  stored  and 
cured,  often  smoked  as  we  shall  describe,  and  at  the  pro- 
per time  distributed  to  consumers.  Not  only  the  wine 
produced  from  the  government  lands  and  accruing  to  the 
citizens  in  form  of  rent  payable  in  kind  as  noticed  in  the 
remarks  on  the  Vectigalarii  or  customs  collectors,  but 
also  all  the  remainder  that  the  farmers  did  not  need  for 

lied,  even  by  crime  until  a  later  period.  See  Bombardini,  De  Carcere  et  Antiquo 
Ejus  Usu,  cap.  VIII,  p.  763  of  Thesaurus  Grcevii  et  Granovii. 

23  Maffeus,  Museum  Veronense,  114,  2.    ' '  Quinquennalis  corporum  vinariorum 
mrbanorum  et  Ostensiuin. 


UNIONS  OF   WINE  SMOKERS.  883 

their  own  use  was  sent  to  market ;  and  of  course,  in  the 
absence  of  competing  lines  of  transportation  such  as  now 
exist,  the  wine  was  sent  to  Rome  hy  the  same  watermen 
who  took  the  rent.  The  most  of  it,  however,  went  overland 
by  wagons  and  we  have  reason  to  believe,  in  a  crude  state; 
for  there  existed  at  Rome  more  than  one  union  offuma- 
tores,  or  wine  curers  who  matured  their  wines  with  smoke. 
This  was  done  by  an  apparatus  in  shape  of  a  hogshead  con- 
taining wine,  through  which  smoke  was  forced  by  means 
of  force  pipes.  At  Tarentum,  was  found  an  inscription 
which  plainly  mentions  the  collegiem  fumatorum.  It  was 
sketched  by  Miinter,  and  incorporated  as  a  regular  trade 
union  into  the  great  collection  of  Orelli.84  The  wines  of  the 
ancients  were  rich  and  excellent.  The  task  of  the  unions 
was  to  finish  the  taste  and  color  so  that  they  constituted  the 
richest  and  healthiest  beverage  to  be  found.  To  this  day 
the  wines  of  Italy  are  counted  among  the  most  delicious  ; 
but  it  is  questionable  whether  they  are  as  well  cured  as  in 
ancient  times  or  whether  they  are  as  plenty. 

There  was  a  union  of  cultivators  and  dealers  in  table  or 
olive  oils,  collegium  oleariorum™  whose  business  in  part, 
was  to  grind  and  prepare  the  oils  from  the  fruit  of  the  olive 
tree  which  grows  luxuriantly  in  southern  Europe.  The 
great  entrepot  of  Rome,88  was  Ostia,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
riverT)ber  18  miles  from  Rome.  The  quantity  of  work 
carried  on  by  the  waterman  between  Ostia  and  Rome  must 
have  been  enormons  considering  the  slow,  toilsome  method 

*«  Orell.,  Analecta  NonnuUa,  No.  5,044 ;  "  D.  M.  Fecit,  Collegium  Fumatorum 
bene  merente."  It  was  found  at  Tarentum.  Orelli  adds :"  Novum  mini  accidit 
Collegium  Fnmatorum.'' 

**  Fabretti,  Inscriptwnum  Arliquarum  Explicates,  731-750 ,  citing  the  incription, 
originally  found  at  Ostia,  but  now  in  Florence, 

M  Orell.,  Imcr.  Lat.  Coll.,  vol.  II,  238,  remarks:  "In  magno  Collegiornm  et 
trtium  memero.  notandum  in  primis,  decurias,  non  corpora  vel  Collegia  consti- 
tute Ostiae."  In  proof  of  this  see  Orell.  Infer.,  No.  4,109,  which  enumerates  18 
trade  unions  In  one  tablet,  which  we  produce  for  the  curious  critic.  The  great 
epigraphist  reminds  us  in  a  note  that  these  are  not  mere  corporations  but  trade 
unions,  (see  ante).  The  incription  runs  thus:  "Cneo  Sentio  Cn.  fll.  ter.  felici 
Dec.  sedilicio  adl.  Decurionum  decreto  adlecto  Quaestori  Aedili  ostiens  II,  vir. 
•Q.  juvenum. 

Hie  primus  omnium  quo  anno  decimo  adlectus  eat  et  qui  a  facto  eat  et  in  prox- 
Imum  duo  vires  deaignat.  Est  quinque  curatorum  navium  marinariorum 
gratis  adlect.  inter  (sic)  novicular.  Marts  Hadriatici.  Et  ad  qnadrigam  fori  vin- 
ariorum.  Patrono  decnriae  scribar.  prseconum  et — et  argentanomm,  et  negotia- 
torum.  vinariorum.  Ab  Urbe  item  mensorum,  frnmentariorum  cereris.  Aug. 
item  collegia  scaphariorum  et  lenunculariorum.  Traject.  Lucolli  et  dendro- 
phorum  et  lege  Rogatorom.  A  faro  et  de  sacomar  ;  et  libertorum  et  serrornm 
pnblicorum.  Oleariorum  et  juvennm  cisianorum  et  veteranorum.  Aug.  item 
benificiariorum.  Aug.  et  piscatorom,  propolarioram  cnratori  lufeus  jnvenalia. 
Cneus  Sentios  Lucullus  Gamala.  Clodianus.  F.  Patri  indulgentissemo." 


384  ROME'S  ARMY  SUPPLIES. 

of  propelling  little  boats.  In  those  days  of  crude  method 
and  meagre  facility  the  functions  of  a  trade  union  appear 
not  to  have  been  confined  to  this  simple  business,  li  ap- 
pears from  the  inscriptions  and  other  data  that  the  manu- 
facturers of  an  article  were  often  the  distributers  of  it. 
Thus  in  the  ca*e  of  the  wine  smokers,  the  same  union  that 
bought  the  crude  grape  juice  which  arrived  tn rough  the  la- 
bors of  the  unions  of  coasters,  lenuncularii,  plying  between 
the  Adriatic  or  Mediterranean  landings  and  the  chief  depots 
as  Ostia  and  Pisse  or  Tarentum,  or  that  which  arrived  on 
board  the  larger  ships  of  the  navicularii  from  greater  dis- 
tances, as  Spain  or  from  Gaul  via  Aries,  assumed  also  the 
duty  of  curing  these  wines  and  of  putting  them  into  the 
hands  of  consumers.  This  explains  the  phenomenon  as  to 
there  being  comparatively  few  middlemen  or  petty  shop- 
keepers among  the  Romans  although  there  were  many  even 
of  these.21  It  also  leads  to  an  explanation  of  the  curious 
fact  that  merchants  were  considered  nearly  as  low  and  un- 
worthy the  respect  of  the  high-born  class  as  the  mechanics 
and  laborers.  In  those  early  days,  before  the  development 
of  the  vast  commerce  which  belongs  to  the  Christian  era, 
business  of  any  kind  whether  mechanical,  mercantile  or 
agricultural  was  held  under  ban  and  men  did  not  espouse 
it  except  as  a  necessity.  This  contempt,  an  inculcation  of 
the  aristocratic  religion,  lived  as  long  as  that  religion  reigned; 
but  when  Christianity  established  itself  upon  its  revolution- 
ary basis  of  exact  equality  of  all  men,  the  contempt  lell  to 
the  ground ;  and  gradually  the  aristocracy  of  wealth  rose 
in  the  place  of  the  ancient  aristocracy  of  birth.  But  as  it 
•was  not  inherent  in  manual  labor  to  produce  much  more 
than  the  individual  laborer  consumes,  and  perfectly  possible 
for  the  mercantile  system  to  amass — sometimes  enormously 
— the  mechanic  and  laborer  continue  to  be  poor  and  consid- 
ered with  contempt  while  the  speculators  on  their  products 
rise  to  the  loftiest  respectability.  But  all  this  is  because 
Chrfstianity  is  only  in  its  theoretical  condition,  having  not 
yet,  on  account  of  the  stupendous  magnitude  of  the  revolu- 
tion it  has  undertaken,  acquired  and  put  in  operation  the 
mechanical  instrumentalities  for  the  practical  realization  of 
its  scheme. 

So  also  the  oil  grinders  union  was  in  the  habit  of  buying 

*'  See  Orell.,  Nos.  4,139-4,300,  ^rteset  Opificia. 


OIL   GRINDERS'    UNIONS.  365 

crude  oils  or  impressed  olives  on  board  the  ships  arid  boats 
at  Ostia,  conveying  them  to  their  storehouses,  running  them 
through  their  presses  or  grinders,  purifying,  curing  and 
bottling  them  in  ollas,  even  placing  them  at  the  command 
of  the  triclinarch  himself.  To  do  this  required  a  large 
number  of  members  in  the  commune  or  union;  but  this  fur- 
nished steady  employ  in  which  each  member  felt  himself  a 
co-operator  or  co-owner  which  not  only  secured  him  or  her 
from  the  dangers  of  dismissal  but  must  also  have  been  a 
great  comfort ;  since  members  felt  the  dignity  of  their 
position,  lowly  of  course,  compared  with  the  rich  non-work- 
ers who  looked  upon  labor  with  disdain,  yet  independent 
in  comparison  with  the  dispropertied  and  maltreated  slaves. 

Bread  was  another  commodity  the  supply  of  which  became 
largely  the  task  of  the  trade  unions  from  very  early  times. 
The  ancient  method  of  baking  differed  little  from  that  of  the 
present  day.  The  ancient  bakers'  unions,  then,  were  in 
nearly  all  respects,  identical  with  the  bakers'  unions  in  New 
York  city  to-day.  We  have  abundance  of  testimony  re- 
garding the  unions  ot  bakers.  A  corpus  pastillariorum 
mentioned  by  Muratori,2*  was  one  of  the  post-Christian  com- 
munes. The  pastillarii  were  manufacturers  of  dainty  loaves, 
biscuits,  cakes  and  bon-bons. 

Then  there  were  the  regular  bread  bakers,  panfices  or  pis- 
tores  who  also,  as  part  of  their  task,  ground  or  beat  grain 
into  flour  or  meal  with  a  pestle."  One  can  at  a  glance  con- 
ceive that  the  amount  of  this  work  was  enormous.  The 
method  of  making  bread  was  the  same  as  now ;  for  very  lit- 
tle has  ever  been  added  for  facilitating  its  rapid  manufac- 
ture ;  but  the  method  of  grinding  has  been  so  greatly  im- 
proved as  to  admit  of  scarcely  a  comparison.  It  required 
a  large  force  of  workmen  in  those  times  to  pound  up  and 
bake  the  three  different  kinds  of  bread  consumed  by  the 
whole  people  rich  and  poor,  of  Rome.30  But  these  men  dur- 

»8  Cf.  Mur.  Thetaur.  Veterum  2nscriptionum,  527,  5.    Anno  post  Chr.  435. 

»  Cod.  Theod. ,  lib.  XIV,  tit.  3.  The  bakers  were  among  the  unions  which  en- 
joyed the  jus  coeundi  or  right  of  organization.  See  Codex  Theodosii,  de  Excw-a- 
tionibus  Artificum,  lib.  XIII,  tit.  IV,  leg.  2.  The  organized  bakers  and  boatmen 
were  among  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  in  Italy. 

30  We  have  shown  in  our  chapters  on  strikes  and  uprisings  that  the  slave 
portion  of  the  proletaries  were  fed  on  pease  and  nuts.  See  Granier  Histoire  del 
Claisa  Ouvritres,  pp.  96-97.  "  Des  les  premiers  temps,  avons-nons  dit,  les  escla  ves 
sc  trouverent  eepares  des  hommes  libres  et  flrent  race  a  part;  ils  allereiit  uourris 
et  vetns  d'une  fac.on  propre  et  speciale,  Les  juifs  leur  percaient  1'oreille,  les 
Gr<"<-s  <4  lew  Romains  les  marqnaient  au  front,  d'oti  le  nom  de  Stichns  etait  restt 
cominnii  et  t-'eiseral  parmi  les  esclaves.  Des  le  temp*  d'Hoinere,  l«ur  regime  all- 


?86  ROME'S  ARMY  SUPPLIES. 

ing  a  cycle  of  700  years  were  organized  and  they  enjoyed  a 
trade  union  in  all  probability  from  long  before  the  time  of 
Numu.  Their  scope  was  wide,  their  members  large,  their 
business  steady,  their  work  guaranteed ;  and  they  had  the 
balmy  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  they  were  safe. 

Another  great  and  very  important  organization  of  the  la- 
boring people  was  that  of  the  butchers.  A  considerable 
branch  of  this  business  was  performed  by  the  suarii  or  pork 
butchers.  It  is  stated  that  the  wealthy  repudiated  pork 
and  confined  their  diet  of  meat  to  fish,  venison  and  mutton. 
But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  there  were  organized 
unions  of  marii  or  pork  butchers,  and  we  have  evidence 
that  they  drove  a  heavy  business.  What  did  Rome  want  of 
pork  butchers  if  her  citizen  population  refused  to  use  pork 
and  her  slave  population  was  not  allowed  to  use  meat  of  any 
kind  ?  This  is  a  troublesome  question,  to  be  solved  only 
by  the  student  of  history  and  archaeology,  from  a  standpoint 
of  social  science.  By  the  student  of  social  science  it  is 
seen,  that  there  existed  a  very  large  class  of  the  poor,  but 
manly,  better  fed,  self-sustaining,  hard  working  element  of 
the  pioletaries  who  were  freedmeu  and  always  organized; 
and  as  we  are  assured  by  abundant  evidence  from  their  own 
inscriptions,  always  capable  of  living  well.  This  is  the  class 
which  consumed  the  products  of  the  suarii.  The  animals 
were  raised  in  southern  parts  of  the  peninsula,  in  great 
numbers  and  probably  were  of  an  excellent  breed.  Ac- 
cording to  Granier  they  were  driven  or  conveyed  in  wagons 
to  Rome  alive.  The  work  of  the  pork  butchers  was  not 
confined  to  killing  and  dressing  them.  In  the  etymology 
of  the  word  "  confection  "  we  have  a  history  of  a  part  of 
their  business.  The  ancient  confectioner  was  a  slaughterer 
of  swine;  but  in  addition  to  this  work  he  prepared  his  pork 
in  a  great  number  of  ways.  He  made  sausage  meats  of 
several  varieties,  corned  pork,  smoked  bacon  and  ham,  very 
much  as  we  do  now.  From  data  which  we  have  observed, 
there  seems  to  be  little  difference  between  the  ancient  and 

mentaire  etait  r6gle  et  ils  ne  mangeaient  pas  de  pain  fait  de  froment."  So  Gnhl 
and  Koner,  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  pp.  501-2,  after  describing  the  sumptu- 
ous dishes  of  the  Romans  of  rank,  conclude  with  the  remark  on  the  poor,  that 
they  "  at  all  periods  chiefly  fed  on  porridge  (pulsj,  made  of  a  farinaceous  sub- 
stance (far,  ador),  which  83rved  them  as  bread,  besides  vegetables,  such  as  cab- 
bage (brassica),  turnips  and  raddishes,  leek  (porrum),  garlic  (alllum),  onions  (cepa) 
pulse  flegrumina),  cucumber  (cucamis),  pumpkins,  melons,  etc."  They  had  no 
meat  except  on  occasions  such  as  the  entertainments  of  the  theasos  and  the  so- 
dalicium. 


HONOR  PAID  TO  PORK  AND  SAUSAGE.       387 

the  modern  methods  of  preserving  and  using  the  flesh  of  the 
swine.  But  there  is  one  observation  which  cannot  well  be 
avoided  here. 

Pork,  according  to  the  ancient  religions,  both  of  the  Indo- 
Europeans  and  Jews,  was  always  repudiated.  It  was  strictly 
a  proletarian  aliment.  The  reason  why  it  became  popular 
on  the  table  of  the  Christians  and  lost  its  ancient  stigma  is, 
that  the  early  Christians  were  themselves  proletaries  and 
did  not  belong  to  the  nobles  who  fed  on  fish,  fat  venison 
and  mutton.  Christianity  in  boldly  proclaiming  the  revo- 
lution on  a  basis  of  equality  of  all  men,  was  not  ashamed  to 
live  up  to  its  professions.  By  far  the  largest  number  of  its 
membership  were  poor.  The  poor  freedmen  were  glad  to 
get  pork  to  eat.  The  Saviour  himself  was  one  of  them, 
without  an  atom  of  aristocracy  in  his  veins  and  consequently 
unhampered  by  old  religious  prejudices,  restrictions  or 
usages.  This  new  sect,  poor  and  persecuted,  struggling 
for  the  existence  of  its  tenets  and  its  members,  began  life 
at  Rome  in  earnest,  although  born  in  Judea.  Its  first  mem- 
bers were  the  poor  work  people — freedmen  and  slaves — all 
of  whom  were  not  above  a  plate  of  ham  and  eggs;  and  to 
say  the  least,  the  new  sect  exhibited  much  sound  sense  in 
calmly  adopting  the  usages  of  the  diet  and  clothing  of  the 
commons. 

Its  tenets  expressed  and  inculcated  the  new  idea  that  by 
birth  one  was  as  good  as  another;  and  it  also  logically  and 
by  implication  defended  the  dignity  of  pork  and  sausage  as 
it  did  the  makers  of  pork  and  sausage  and  every  other  food 
available  which  was  found  palatable  and  nutritious. 

We  do  not  find  mention  either  in  the  inscriptions  or  else- 
where of  butchers  located  at  Ostia,  the  port  of  Rome.  This, 
however,  is  accounted  for  by  the  supply  of  hogs,  sheep  and 
cattle  being  in  an  opposite  direction  from  the  emporium. 
There  is  an  abundant  mention  of  the  pecuarii,  or  cattle 
breeders  and  their  greges  or  herds.  They  took  the  gov- 
ernment pasture  lands  on  shares,  and  at  the  close  of  the 
year  paid  to  the  tax  collectors  the  share  agreed  upon. 
What  remained  over  this  amount,  which  was  paid  in  cattle, 
sheep  and  hogs  more  frequently  than  in  money,  was  their 
own  ;  and  they  sold  it  to  the  butchers  at  the  market. 

When  the  rich  gentry  made  their  encroachment  upon  the 
public  land  and  drove  these  pecuarii  from  the  pastures,  thus 


3&b  ROME'S   ARMY   SUPPLIES. 

usurped,  as  we  have  already  shown,31  the  slaves  were  forced 
to  do  this  work ;  and  in  many  parts  of  Italy  this  ancient 
system  \vas  at  an  end.  Very  little  mention  is  made  of  true 
trade  unions  of  butchers  in  the  inscriptions  thus  far  discov- 
ered except  those  of  the  suarii  or  pork  butchers.  Granier 
suggests  that  these  conducted  the  whole  butcher  business  of 
Rome; 32  but  this  is  a  matter  which  we  leave  in  abeyance,- 
in  the  absence  of  more  exact  data. 

There  were  unions  of  workmen  whose  task  was  to  fodder 
cattle  and  other  animals  of  the  stock  farms,  One  of  these  a 
collegium  pabulariorum  is  given  us  by  Donati.33  They  were 
allied  to  the  haymakers ;  for  hay  is  one  kind  of  pabulum  or 
fodder.  It  is  an  inscription  of  a  genuine  labor  union,  and 
is  curious,  showing  how  systematic  they  must  have  been  in 
getting  down  to  nice  distinctions,  something  like  the  division 
of  labor  of  the  present  day. 

We  have,  however,  an  instance  which  comes  near  making 
up  the  missing  link  connecting  the  cattle  breeders  with  the 
unions,  in  shape  of  a  genuine  collegium  faenariorum,34  or 
union  of  mowers  who  prepared  the  hay  for  the  cattle  and 
sheep.  The  inscriptions,  of  which  there  are  several,  are  the 
result  of  the  labors  of  Gruter,  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
reliable  archaeologists,  who  is  constantly  quoted  and  con- 
sulted by  both  Mommsen  and  Orelli.  B  n  the  discovery  of 
a  union  of  mowers  which  once  exis;ed  at  a  fashionable 
watering  place  like  the  Puteoli,  whe;  e  this  was  found,  does 
not  sufficiently  attest.  Orelli  supplies  ths  gap  with  several 
other  unions  of  hay-makers 35 

31  See  chapters  on  Spartacus,  Eunus,  Athenian  and  Arlstonicus. 

32  See  Histoire  des  Classes  Ouvrieres,  chap.  xii. 

33  Don.  Cl.  9,  n.  3  and  20. 

34  Gruter,  Jnscriptiones  Antiqua  Tot  us  Orbis  Romanorum,  175,  9. 

*"'  Orel!.,  Inscnptionum  Latinarum  Co  eciio,  Nos.  45,  4,187  which  ia  Gr  ter's, 
aiid  No.  4,194  which  is  Gruter's  inscription  264. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

TRADE   UNIONS. 

THE  GREAT  TRADES  VICTUALING  SYSTEM. 

How  HOME  WAS  FED — Unions  of  Fishermen — Discovery  of  a 
Strange  Inscription  at  Pompeii,  Proving  the  Political  Power 
and  Organization  of  the  Workingrnen  and  "Women's  Unions 
— Female  Suffrage  in  Italy— The  Fish  Salters — Wine  Smok- 
ers— Union  of  Spicemen — The  Game-Hunters'  Organizations 
— Unions  of  Amphitheatre-Sweepers — Unions  ot  Wagoners, 
Ox-Drivers,  Muleteers,  Cooks, Weighers,  Tasters  and  Milkmen 
— The  Cooking  Utensil-Makers — Unions  of  Stewards — Old 
Familiar  Latin  Names,  with  Familiar  English  Meanings  Re- 
produced— Gaius  and  the  Twelve  Tables — Numerous  Notes 
with  References  to  Archaeological  Collections  and  to  Histories1 
Giving  Pages  and  many  Necessary  Eenderings,  of  the  Ob- 
scure Curiosities  Described. 

UNIONS  of  fisherman,  piscatores,1  existed  in  numbers  at 
Rome,  Ostia,  Pisae  and  other  points  on  the  sea  and  the 
mouths  of  the  Italian  streams.  Considering  the  fact  that 
fish  were  in  high  regard  with  the  wealthy  people,  the  fish- 
ing business  was  extensive.  An  account  of  a  union  of  the 
piscicajm,  published  in  the  Wiener  Jahrbiicher,2  causes 
Orelli  to  remark  that  before  elections  for  the  aediles  and 
duumvirs  in  the  municipal  cities,  the  unions  furnished 

i  Orell.,  ScholcE  Artificum  et  Opificum,  No.  4,115.  The  inscription  of  this  pair 
of  trade  unions— the  fishermen  and  divers— reads :  "Ti.  Claudio  Esqnil  Severo 
decunali  lictori,  patrono  corporis  piscatorum  et  urinator.  QQ.  III.  eiusdem 
corporis  ob  merita  eius  quod  hie  primus  gtatuas  duas,  unam  Antonini  Ang.  dom- 
ini  N .  aliam  lul  Augustae  dominae  nostr.  S.  P.  P.  una  cum  Claudio  Pontiano  fllio 
BUO  eq  Rom.  et  hoc  amplius  eidem  corpori  donaverit  HS.  X.  Milia  N  ut  ex  usu- 
ris  eorum  qnodannis  natali  suo  xvi.  kal,  Febr.  sportulae  viritim  dividantur  prae- 
sertim  cum  navigatio  scapharum  diligentia  eius  adquisita  et  coiinrmata  sit.  ex 
decreto  ordinis  corporis piscatorum  et  urinatorum  totius  alv  liber  quibus  ex  SC. 
coire  liret  S.  P.  P.— Romae.  Grut.  391,  1. 

3  XX.  p.  12-15,  des  Wtintr  Jahrbuchs, 


390  ROME^S  VICTUALING    SYSTEM. 

members  to  be  voted  for  as  candidates  to  the  municipal 
offices;  and  what  is  more  strange,  women,  if  it  happened 
that  there  were  any  thought  proper  for  the  places.  The 
inscription  which  records  this  fact  was  found  among  the 
ruins  of  Pompeii. 

The  discovery  of  this  ancient  city  has  been  of  incalcu- 
lable value  to  the  students  of  sociology,  in  affording  mod- 
ern science  an  opportunity  to  compare  ancient  with  mod- 
ern life  placed  in  juxtaposition.  It  brings  to  our  vision 
in  realistic  form,  such  as  no  human  being  can  for  an  in- 
stant doubt,  the  social  and  political  life  and  habits  of  a 
great  people  concerning  which  the  surface  historiogra- 
phers have  been  profoundly,  painfully  silent !  Who  can 
doubt  the  veracity  of  words  inscribed"  on  a  tablet  of  mar- 
ble, scrawled  upon  a  wall  and  having  been,  perhaps,  al- 
ready a  hundred  years  or  more  in  use,  and  at  last,  in  the 
awful  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  at  whose  foot  it  stood,  over- 
whelmed, buried  and  lost  to  view  under  a  thick  stratum  of 
lava  for  one  thousand  seven  hundred  years;  then  all  at 
once  dug  out,  delivered  and  held  up  to  the  gaze  of  men 
now  living,  fresh  as  though  just  from  the  chisel  of  the 
artefex  signoram  who  graved  it  for  his  brother  unionist? 
Vet  there  it  stands,  its  own  monument  for  our  blazing  en- 
lightenment to  decipher.  In  modern  political  English  it 
reads  like  some  very  cranky  caucus  slate  of  a  New  York 
ward  Tammany  club:  Freely  translated  the  inscription 
reads  as  follows: 

(a)  ''  Phoebus,  together  with  his  buyers,  asks  the  peo- 
ple to  vote  for  Holcon,  who  was  formerly  president  of  the 
union  and  for  C.  G.  Rufus — two  men  nominated  by  us." 
(Meaning  two  of  our  men.) 

(6)  "Licinius  Roman  nominates  and  calls  for  the  ballots 
of  constituents  in  favor  of  Julius  Poly  bins  for  superinten- 
dent of  public  works." 

(c)  u  The  members  of  the  fishermen's  union  (nominate) 
make  choice  of  Popidius  Rufus,  for  member  of  the  board 
of  public  works." 

(d)  u  The  international  gold  workers  association  of  the 
city  of  Pompeii  demand  for  member  of  the  board  of  pub- 
works,  Cuspis  Pansa." 

(g)  "  Sema,  with  her  boys,  ask  that  you  work  with  a  will 
at  the  election  and  secure  success,  for  the  office  of  magis- 


WOMEN   IN  ANCIENT  POLITICS.  391 

trate,  to  Julius  Simple.  He  is  a  man  in  the  fullest  sense 
of  the  word;  a  faithful  servant  of  the  people  of  Pompeii; 
a  good  man;  worthy  of  assuming  public  affairs." 

(/)  "  Verna,  the  home- born,  with  her  pupils  in  all  right, 
and  good  faith,  put  Miss  or  Mrs.  Capella3  to  the  front  for 
a  seat  in  the  board  of  magistrates." 

(g)  "  It  is  worthy  of  you  that  you  work  for  P.  Popid  for 
member  of  the  board  of  public  works,  with  might  and 
will." 

(A)  "  Fortune  (probably  a  female  member)  desires  the 
election  of  Marcellus." 

This  is  all  very  simple  and  homely.  But  it  must  be  clear 
to  every  one  that  such  talk  was  confined  to  those  who 
were  federated  together  and  intimately  acquainted  with 
one  another;  not  that  we  would  arbitrarily  construe  the 
vernacular  of  a  Roman  municipal  town,  but  there  is  a  pe- 
culiarly quaint  air  of  familiarity  which  savors  so  remark- 
ably of  what  is  taking  place  in  the  unions  of  our  own 
cities  and  towns  that  it  seems  like  a  mirroring  of  the  an- 
cient upon  modern  brotherhoods.4 

This  remarkable  find  goes  far  toward  clearing  up  points 
which  otherwise  might  leave  doubts  upon  our  statements. 

Orelli  himself  expresses  surprise,  especially  upon  the 
phases  of  woman's  suffrage.5  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  actuating  power  at  the  bottom  of  general  elections,  it 
is  certainly  proved  by  this  inscription  that  in  the  labor 
unions,  women  had  not  only  accorded  right  but  also  a 
practical  hand  in  securing  the  choice  of  their  unions 
toward  building  up  a  democracy  among  the  ancients. 

3  We  read  this  feminine  because  the  context  shows  it  to  be  so.    Duumvir  has 
no  feminine  termination  and  they  could  not  alter  the  word  as  a  political  term. 

4  The  Latin  of  the  inscription  is  as  follows: 

(a)  "  M.  Holconium  priscum,  C.  Gaium  Rufum  Q.  Viros,  Phcebua  cum  emptori- 
bus  suis  rogat."  (t.  e.  eis  suffragium  fert). 

(b)  "lulium  Polybium  teciilem,  Licinius  Komans  rogat  et  facit." 

(c)  ' '  Popidium  Rufum  5Cdilem  Piseicapi  faciunt '' 

(d)  C.  Cuspium  Pansam  secileni,  Auriflces  universi  rogant." 

(e)  Juninm  Simplicem  eedilem,  Virum  amplissimum,  servatorem  Populi  Pom- 
peiani,  virum  bonum,  dignum  republica,  omni  voluntate  laciatis,  Sema  cum 
pueria  rogat." 

(f)  "  Capellam  duumvirum  juridicundo  omni  vel  optima  voluntate  facit  Verna 
cum  discentibus.'' 

(g)  "  P.  Popidium  Secundum  JEdilum  Omni  Volnntate  Facere  dignus  est. 
(  h)  "  Marcellum  Fortunata  Cnpit." 

5  Orell.,  InscripKanum,  Lalinorum  Collectio,  No.  3,700.     "  Ante  comitia  duum- 
viralia  et  fedilicia  in  Municipiis  Collegia,  municipes,  et,  quod  maxime  mirum, 
feminas  quoque,  ut  iis,  quibus  favebant,  apud  alios  suffragarentur,  hujuscemo  ii 
tabellas  publice  proposuisse,  ex  Pompejiorum  parietinia  nuper  compertum  est.'' 


392  ROME'S   VICTUALING   SYSTEM. 

In  this  inscription  we  have  not  only  a  full  verification  of 
our  conjecture  that  the  trade  unions  were  well  organized 
about  the  time  of  the  labors  of  Christ  but  that  they  were 
federated  with  similar  communes  all  over  the  known 
world,  in  universe  and  also  that  they  achieved  so  great  a 
progress  as  to  have  actually  been  voting  their  own  mem- 
bers into  municipal  offices  at  or  probably  long  before  the 
earthquake  in  A.  D.  79.  This  does  not,  however,  by  any 
means  show  that  they  were  in  the  majority.  We  have 
never  claimed  this.  Far  from  it.  The  number  of  slaves 
was  always  far  in  excess  of  the  freedmen ;  and  then,  there 
always  were  great  numbers  of  freedmen  who  would  not 
organize  and  who  were  two  indolent  to  work  either  for 
themselves  or  for  masters.6 

In  addition  to  the  fish  catchers  there  were  numerous 
craftsmen  who  made  it  their  business  to  dress,  season  and 
put  up  the  fish  in  barrels,  casks  and  packages.  These 
were  the  ancient  salarii,l  of  the  Romans.  It  seems  to  be 
an  established  term.  Salarius  applies  in  the  inscriptions 
to  the  fish  salters;  although  it  may  apply  to  the  salting  of 
an y  flesh  for  food.  Used  much  in  early  England  it  differ- 
entiated into  the  word  tt  salary."  The  salarii  curatores 
should  be  rendered  fish  curers,8  instead  of  superintendents 
of  the  business  of  fish  salting  as  Orelli  imagines,  in  at  least 
one  case.9  We  have,  in  the  inscriptions  found  in  different 
places,  evidence  enough  to  settle  the  question  about  their 
being  organized  into  unions.  Sometimes  they  are  called 
corpores,  bodies ;  sometimes  collegia,10  unions.  They  were 
all  engaged  in  the  vast  work  of  victualing  the  people. 

There  were  societies  of  fruit-purveyors  of  several  differ- 
ent sorts.  We  have  already  spoken  of  a  queer  inscription 
at  Rome,  noted  by  Oderic,11  showing  that  one  Julius  Kpo- 
phra,  orca  a  cabinet  maker,  changed  this  business  to  that 
of  apple-man  and  with  his  wife  Helen  made  a  living  near 
the  Koman  Circus.  They  seem  to  have  kept  an  apple 

6  Pr.  Bucher  Aiifstdnde  der  Unfreien  Arbeiler. 

7  Marini.  Atti,  vs.  p.  294.    Corpus  talariorum.     Orel].,  Infcriptinnet  Lalinarwm 
'Coll.,  No.  1092. 

8  This  is  the  origin  of  the  modern  word  "  salary."    In  England,  at  other  fish- 
eries and  salt  works,  workmen  were  paid  in  cakes  of  salt  by  the  Romans.    See 
Pliny,  Nat.  Hist.,  XXXI.  7,  and  XLI.  fin  ;  Dion  Cassius,   lex.  viii.  22,  and  Ui,  23. 
Digest,  2  lei  15,  tit.  8. 

»  Orell.,  Inscr.  No.  3,464.  note,  also  No.  1,092. 

10  Supplement  to  Orelli  'a  Collectio,  by  G.  Henzen,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  170  of  index,  un- 
caption:  "Varia  collegiorum  nomina.     The  several  synonyms  are  here  explained. 

11  Oderic.  InxcripHones,  p.  74. 


UNIONS  OF  SPICE  AND  WINE  MEN,  HUNTERS.     393 

stand.  So  trivial  a  circumstance  would  scarcely  have  been 
worth  the  labor  of  graving  upon  a  tablet  of  stone  to  be 
wondered  at  by  their  fellow  men  20  centuries  afterwards. 
The  more  probable  solution  is  that  he  belonged  to  the 
cabinet  makers'  union,  and  from  infirmity  or  other  disa- 
bility was  pensioned  off  and  allowed  to  pick  up  an  occa- 
sional denarius  by  selling  apples  in  the  open  air.  In  that 
case  the  union  would  naturally  put  his  case  on  record. 

The  vinarii"  or  vine  dressers,  and  the  vinitores  often 
brought  wagon  loads  of  grapes  to  the  city.  We  are  not 
informed  as  to  the  exact  manner  of  supplying  the  people 
with  these  grapes.  They  were  fruit  of  a  season  and  were 
probably  disposed  of  somewhat  as  at  present  in  any  Italian 
city.  Many  of  the  houses  of  the  rich  had  slaves  of  their 
own  who  went  to  the  open  market  places  and  procured 
these  fruits  in  their  season.  The  fruit  of  the  olive  tree 
was  sometimes  used  in  the  family. 

Rome  had  its  mercatores,  wholesale  and  retail,  who  al- 
ways kept  a  supply  of  every  kind  of  fruit  in  season.  There 
was  a  strong  union  of  the  wine  dealers  vini  susceptore* 
legalized  in  the  code  of  Theodosius;1*  and  they  are  evi- 
dently the  same  as  the  vinarii  quoted  above. 

We  may  class  the  spice  dealers'  unions  also  among  the 
purveyors  of  fruit;  as  these  people  had  a  strong  organiza- 
tion called  the  collegium  aromatoriorum,.1'  An  inscription 
proving  this,  has  been  discovered  at  Rome  and  cited  by 
Muratori. 

The  lords  of  the  land  were  often  too  dainty  to  eat  the 
common  products  we  have  enumerated  and  were  foud  of 
indulging  in  what  they  considered  the  nobler  fruits  of  the 
chase,  venatio.  Some  15  inscriptions  have  been  discov- 
ered portraying  different  phases  of  this  sport  and  its  pro- 
ducts. At  least  one  genuine  union  of  hunters  has  been 
found ;  the  collegium  venatorum  brought  out  by  Muratori, 
found  in  the  vicinity  of  the  fortified  town  of  Corfinium  of 
the  Peligni  and  not  far  from  Sulmo.  Doubtless  there  was 
game  in  abundance  at  tfie  time  those  hunters  were  there. 

It  would  certainly  be  interesting  to  know  more  than  an 
inscription  on  a  slab  of  stone  can  tell,  in  regard  to  the 

M  Orell.,  Inscr.  Nos.  3,921,  4  302,  6,430. 

w  Cod.  Tktodosii,  lib.  XVI.,  tit.  IV,  leg.  4. 

14  Muratori,  Thesavnis  Velerum  Insci-iplionwn,  -51J ,  4 


394  ROME'S    VICTUALING    SYSTEM, 

exact  object  of  these  hunters,  away  in  the  wilds  of  the  Ap- 
penines;  especially  as  they  might  have  been  runaway 
slaves  who,  under  the  protecting  shield  of  some  law  regu- 
lating hunting  fraternities,  carried  on  business  here.14 
Another  inscription  cited  by  Orelli 15  under  his  "  critical 
observations  of  Hagenbuch,  portrays  a  commune  consist- 
ing of  a  number  of  persons,  some  of  whose  names  are 
given,  hunting,  apparently  for  other  than  live  game;  per- 
haps for  the  ores  of  copper.  It  is  credited  to  Cardinal! 
and  was  found  at  Velitres.  A  still  more  singular  one  is 
that  cited  by  Grater  and  found  at  Naples.  Orelli  places 
it  in  his  Res  Scenica — scenes  in  nature.  Were  it  not  too 
long  we  would  give  its  rendering,  as  it  speaks  of  wild 
animals  and  scenes.  Singularly  enough  its  words  vena- 
tione  passerum,  sparrow  hunting,  is  insisted  on  by  the  great 
master 16  as  meaning  struthionum,  of  ostriches.  We  know 
that  the  venator  passerum  sometimes  applies  to  turbot  fish- 
ing ;  and  we  are  inclined  to  think,  notwithstanding  the 
great  respect  we  entertain  for  this  expounder  of  abbrevi- 
ations  and  hieroglyths  in  his  practices  in  archseology,  that 
he  may  be  mistaken. 

Another  family  or  union  of  hunters;  collegium  venatorum 
is  given  by  Gruter,17  as  coming  from  Monselice  which  is 
quoted  by  this  author  not  as  a  business  union  but  as  a 
family  because  the  words  familia  venatoria  occur  upon 
the  stone.  Orelli,  however  calls  it  a  collegium  in  his  in- 
dex to  Aries  et  Opificia,. 

A  beautiful  specimen  of  a  genuine  hunting  club,  colleg- 
ium venatorum,  was  picked  up  at  Beaufort  in  France lft 
which  verifies  our  suspicion,  that  some  of  the  hunters' 
unions  were  escaped  slaves  who,  without  losing  their  or- 
ganization or  parting  company,  fled  to  the  far  distant  for- 
ests and  there  established  themselves  in  the  new  art  of  hunt- 
ing, thus  maintaining  their  existence  in  the  wilderness. 
This  is  one  theory.  We  shall  presently  speak  of  another. 
The  inscription  reads  rather  strangely.19  There  was  a 
union  of  hunters  who  used  to  fight  wild  beasts  in  the  am- 
phitheatre, or  the  arena,  but  who  broke  away  through 

is  Mur,,  Thesaw  .,  531,  2. 

1«  Orell.,  No.  4,895. 

»  Gruter,  Infr.  Totius  Orlris  Rom.,  4S4.  6. 

l«  Gruter,  Inscr.  Cot.  Orb.  3x1,  11. 

"  Mimairti  PrtsenU*  a,  I'Acad.,  d.  b,  livre  II.  p.  399. 


GLADIATORS  FIGHTING    WILD   BEASTS.      395 

conspiracy.  It  is  well-known  that  gladiators  most  of  whom 
were  slaves  were  compelled  to  tight  and  kill  each  other  or 
fight  and  be  killed  by  wild  beasts  on  the  sands  of  the  am- 
phitheatre, enacting  scenes  of  the  most  terrible  and  bloody 
character  known  either  to  the  past  or  present  history  of 
the  human  race.  They  often  had  a  horror  and  sometimes 
were  repelled  by  their  own  conscientious  scruples,  against 
these  ghastly  scenes  enacted  in  presence  of  thousands  of 
spectators  shouting,  gloating  and  betting  on  their  bloody 
exercise  of  muscle  and  wit.  This  seems  to  have  been  a 
union  of  them  who,  apparently  in  good  faith,  had  formed 
a  conspiracy  to  escape  and  remain  together  in  the  frater- 
nal bond.  At  any  rate  this  is  the  opinion  of  Orelli-Hen- 
zen.20  This  second  theory,  then,  although  somewhat  in 
contradiction  to  the  reading  of  the  inscription  quoted, 
suggests  that  the  "  collegium  venatorum  qui  ministerio  are- 
nariq  fungunt,"  was  no  other  than  a  union  of  servants  of 
the  ring,  a  part  of  whose  duties,  in  addition  to  what  we 
have  mentioned,  was  to  undertake  long  journeys  officially 
in  quest  of  the  wild  beasts  that  were  used  in  the  amphi- 
theatres, during  the  emperors.  These  fierce  beasts  are 
known  to  have  been  sought,  and  highly  prized  by  the 
spectators  who  delighted  to  witness  a  gladiator  fighting 
an  enraged  lion,  tiger,  leopard,  wolf  or  bear.  Beaufort  is 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  of  Savoy  where  to  this  day, 
bears  of  a  large  size  give  the  farmers  and  herdsmen 
trouble.  Wolves  also  still  linger  among  the  great  forests 
of  the  inaccessible  mountain  slopes ;  and  although  we  are 
not  aware  of  panthers  or  tigers  or  any  of  the  largest  feline 
animals  being  found  in  modern  Italy  or  France,  yet  they 
might  have  existed  there  in  ancient  times.  But  there 
was  game  enough  to  have  attracted  the  hunters  for  the 
great  games  of  Rome. 

The  archaeologists  have  found  as  many  as  five  inscrip- 
tions of  these  unions  of  the  arena.  On  one  of  them  is 
written  "  arenae  gladiatoriiim  puryandae." — A  union  of 
gladiators  who  clean  the  amphitheatre — giving  incontest- 
able evidence  of  a  union  of  amphitheatre  cleaners.21  The 
unionists  were  not  slaves.  Slaves  had  no  privileges. 

20  "  Collegium  Venatorum  Deensium,  qui  ministerio  arenario  fungent.    Ded. 
Ex.  decreto  tsoluto  voto." 

21  Orell..  Collegia  Corpora  Sodalicia,  No.  7,209.     Inner.  Lot.  Coll..  Vol    III,  p. 
456.     Cf.  Memolret  Present  a,  I'  Academic,  VoL  2,  p.  39U,  1854. 


£96  ROME'S    VICTUALING    SYSTEM. 

They  were  freedmen,  and  those  we  mention  were  char- 
tered and  existed  according  to  law. 

But  whatever  might  have  been  the  special  object  of  the 
hunters,  their  general  object  was,  of  course,  to  supply  the 
table  of  those  who  could  pay,  with  the  delicacies  of  the 
chase.  The  unions  had  wagon  transports  to  the  stations 
in  the  forests,  communicating  with  the  cities.  The  diffi- 
culty of  taking  game  must  have  been  very  great,  consider- 
ing that  gunpowder  was  not  in  use.  Bows  and  arrows 
were  used  and  for  the  manufacture  of  such  implements 
they  had  unions  of  workingmen  making  devices  for  trap- 
ping, for  archery  and  harpooning.  There  being  a  great 
demand  for  them,  not  only  for  hunting  purposes  but  for 
war,  these  weapons  were  of  the  best  quality;  and  archery 
won  a  high  station  in  ancient  times  as  an  accomplishment. 

In  the  great  system  of  victualing  the  people  of  ancient 
Rome  and  its  almost  innumerable  provincial  towns  and 
cities,  some  of  which  were  fully  as  aristocratical  and  fas- 
tidious as  the  Romans  themselves,  the  teamsters'  numer- 
ous associations  played  a  no  inconsiderable  role.  We  find 
numerous  evidences  in  the  inscriptions,  that  they  were  at 
one  time  organized.  There  were  the  ox  drivers  jumenta- 
rii,™  who  worked  at  the  port  of  Rome  conveying  grain,  oil, 
wine  and  other  commodities  to  the  storehouses  of  the 
weighers'  and  measurers'  association,  mensorus  portuenses.** 

These  and  the  unions  of  muleteers,  coll  midionum  et  asi- 
nariorum™  that  existed  everywhere  in  Rome  and  out  of 
it,  did  most  of  the  work  of  conveying  provisions  from  pro- 
ducers to  consumers.  Perhaps,  in  making  this  remark  we 
are  exaggerating  somewhat  on  the  amount  of  work  ex- 
pected of  them.  Their  system  was  such  that  they  could 
have  performed  it  all ;  but  there  seems  never  to  have  been 
a  time  when  the  trade  unions  obtained  a  complete  control 
of  this  work.  The  large  class  of  capitalists25  were  in  con- 
stant competition  with  organized  labor  and  always  had  a 
large  force  of  mules  or  oxen  at  work.  Nor  must  it  be 

*s  One  was  found  or  observed  by  Gnuratori,  Thesaur.  Inscr.  511,  3.  The  second 
t>y  Connegietur,  Nom.  Rat.  p.  219.  A  third  by  Cardinal!,  Iscriz.  Velet,  p.  44,  lound 
*t  Veletri.  A  fourth,  that  at  Beaufort  and  a  fifth, prob.  at  Pisa  by  Marini,  XIII. 
Gwrn.  di  Pisi,  p.  25. 

23  Orell.,  Inscr.  Lat.  Collectio,  No.  4,09.3.     Momm.  De  Coll.et  Sodal.Rom.  p.  97, 

«  Gran,  de  Cassagn.,  Hist,  des  Classes  Ouvrikres.  p.  610,  Grut,  462,  3.  Orell.. 
CM.  l*ublica.  et  Private.,  No.  7,194. 

2>  Idem  No.  7,206,  coll.  mulionuin  et  asinariorum. 


UNIONS    CHAMPIONED  BY   CLOD! US.       397 

understood  that  anything  like  all  the  work  of  any  kind,, 
was  a  great  length  of  time,  ever  performed  by  the  unions, 
alone.  The  competition  between  the  unions  and  the  spec- 
ulators must  have  raged  with  activity  for  at  least  200 
years,  and  finally  the  hatred  of  the  speculating  oligarchy- 
went  into  legislation. 

After  endless  turmoils,  among  which  the  unions,  cham- 
pioned by  Clodius,  not  only  restored  their  old  rights  of 
organizations  but  gained  many  more,  the  struggle  culmi- 
nated in  Caesar  suppressing  nearly  all  of  them.  But  the- 
unionists  were  strong  and  influential  and  in  course  of  time, 
after  the  death  of  Cicero,  Caesar  and  other  enemies,  they 
reassumed  most  of  their  fallen  power.  Nothing  was  able- 
to  grind  them  out  entirely. 

History  gives  us  little  in  regard  to  the  methods  by 
which  the  armies  of  the  ever  victorious  Romans  were  sup- 
plied with  provisions.  If  there  is  any  mention  by  histor- 
ians of  a  union  or  association  of  sutlers  who  made  it  their 
business  to  supply  th«  armies  stationed  upon  Roman  ter- 
ritory, we  have  failed  to  find  it.  There  are  inscriptions, 
however,  which  are  beginning  to  reveal  a  subject  pregnant 
of  importance  in  solving  misty  queries  regarding  the  phe- 
nomenal successes  of  Roman  arms.  We  have  already- 
shown  that  from  the  end  of  Numa's  reign  the  Roman  arm- 
ies were  supplied  with  arms  in  a  great  degree  by  the 
unions  of  armorers. 

It  is  here  relevant  to  prove,  if  possible,  that  they  were 
also  supplied  by  them  with  provisions.  For  at  least  500 
years  the  armies  used  union  made  wagons,  union  made 
swords,  union  made  javelins,  bows  and  arrows,  helmets 
and  shields,  wore  union  made  shoes,  trowsers,  hats  and 
coats,  and  tore  down  the  walls  and  battlements  of  their 
enemies  with  union  made  catapults  and  battering  ranis. 
Did  they  not  eat  union  made  bread,  union  cured  meat  and 
drink  the  delicious  wines  and  beverages  prepared  by  the 
organized  victualers  ?  True,  when  far  away  in  their  for- 
eign conquests  the  Roman  soldiers  depended  much  upon 
the  pillage  and  plunder  of  their  unfortunate  victims;  but 
at  home,  when  the  armies  were  at  quarters  this  question 
sharply  applies.  The  student  of  sociology  is  particularly 
interested  in  this  subject,  because  this  matter  of  union 
labor  in  supply  ing  the  legions  goes  far  in  settling  the  lung 


398  ROME'S  VICTUALING   SYSTEM. 

mooted  problem  hanging  over  the  decline  and  fall  of 
Rome. 

Rome  prospered  in  peace  and  in  arms,  until  the  glut  of 
conquest  changed  her  statesmen  from  the  wise  tolerance 
of  Numa  and  Servius  Tullius  to  the  rapacious  slave-hold- 
ing policy  which  sought  to  destroy  the  unions  that  made 
possible  her  unparalleled  success.  But  when  gorged  with 
enormous  wealth,  she  lost  her  manhood  and  swine-like  fell 
upon  and  devoured  her  own  nurslings  and  friends.  The 
sin  struck  back  upon  herself  like  the  fangs  of  the  tortured 
crotalus  and  poisoned  her  own  blood  with  a  reacting 
plague  of  ingratitude  and  pollution. 

The  stones  have  already  revealed  to  us  that  there  existed 
unions  of  victualers  who  made  a  business  of  supplying  the 
armies.  They  were  called  collegia  castrensiariorum,26  sut- 
lers. We  are  not  informed  of  the  exact  relation  they  had 
with  the  armies;  whether  like  our  sutlers  they  hung 
around  the  flanks  and  peddled  with  the  soldiers,  or 
whether  they  supplied  the  armies  by  contract  with  the 
senate  or  consular  generals. 

In  addition  to  the  unions  already  mentioned  we  find 
that  the  cooks  and  waiters  also  had  their  organization  of 
self-help.  They  may  all  be  classed  as  one  family  or  com- 
mune, although  in  some  cases  at  least,  the  cooks  and  the 
waiters  were  apart.  In  the  inscriptions  there  are  three 
unions  of  cooks;  one  a  collegium  coctonim"  who  took 
charge  of  the  stately  business  of  cookery  in  the  palace  of 
Augustus  Caesar,  at  Rome.  Another  is  mentioned  on  the 
«lab  as  cocus,™  a  cook  which  was  found  at  Rome  and  is 
cited  by  Marini,29  and  the  third  also  speaks  of  a  man  who 
was  an  Alban  cook,  evidently  president  of  the  society.  It 
was  found  on  the  cite  of  the  ancient  city  of  Alba. 

Mommsen cites  the  collegium praegustatorum™  mentioned 
"by  Gruter  as  a  genuine  trade  union  of  waiters,  who,  as 
this  designation  implies,  were  foretasters  as  well  as  wait- 
ers. The  rich  in  Rome  were  ever  beset  with  fears  of  be- 
ing poisoned.  They  were  obliged  to  have  their  food  tasted 

26  See  BUcher,  Aufstande  der  Unfreian  Arbeiter,  pp.  3-16.     Geldoligarkie,  Pan- 
perismus,  Sklaventhum. 

27  Orell.,  Nos.  7,189,  6,344  and  elsewhere.    Also  Gruter,  Inscriptiones  Antiques 
Totius  Orbis  Romanorum,  649,  5,  and  several  others. 

28  Cardinal!,  Dipl.  410.  20  Marini,  Atti,  1,  p.  610. 

Z9  Romanelli,  Topog.  I,  3,  p.  213.  «  Grut.,  Inscr.  Antiqu.,  581,  13, 

so  Momm.,  De.  Coll.  et  Sodal.  Rom.,  p.  78,  note  25. 


SPLENDID   WORK   OF  THE    UNIONS.         399 

of  by  the  waiter  in  their  presence.  If  the  waiter  ate  it 
with  impunity  they  need  have  no  fears.  The  waiters  be- 
ing in  constant  communication  with  the  cooks  were  sup- 
posed to  know  all  the  dangerous  designs  that  might  origi- 
nate among  the  kitchen  people,  to  be  consummated  in  the 
dining  rooms  ;  and  were  thus  held  responsible  for  the 
honesty  of  both  themselves  and  the  cooks.  They  were 
required  to  taste  the  milk  they  served  to  the  gentry  direct 
from  the  jugs  or  pots,  ampullae  of  the  milk  men,  or  the 
collegium  lacticariorum  a  milkman's  union  mentioned  by 
Mommsen31  as  a  corpus  or  labor  union.  This  interlinking 
of  many  trades,  whose  sympathies  and  contact  sometimes 
fitted  them  for  carrying  out  cunningly  concocted  plots 
with  the  waiter  thus  became  practically  a  sort  of  key  to 
the  treachery.  Even  the  manufacturers  of  these  milk  jars 
had  unions,  one  of  which,  in  the  collection  of  Gruter  was 
found  inscribed  on  a  slab  of  slate  or  stone  discovered 
at  Narbonne.32 

A  stone  has  been  dug  up  bearing  the  inscription  colleg- 
ium vasulariorum.  It  exhibits  the  relics  of  a  union  of 
manufacturers  of  cooking  utensils.  Most  of  their  produc- 
tions were  of  copper  or  bronze.  The  vascula  were  of  vari- 
ous shapes;  spits,  ladles,  cups,  bowls,  soupspoons  and 
many  other  implements  of  cookery.  Hammer  work  with 
the  ancient  artisans  was  a  fine  art.  Sometimes  the  best 
workmen,  if  not  slaves,  had  organizations,  which  were 
called  the  malleatores,  hammerers  and  are  mentioned  by 
Orelli  as  inscribed  on  a  stone.33 

There  also  were  the  basket  makers'  unions  the  products 
of  whom,  sportulse,  figure  in  the  decree  of  laws  governing 
sacred  unions  as  found  in  the  Roman  temple  of  Barber- 
inis  and  given  in  full  by  Orelli  in  No.  2,417  of  his  great 
collection,  which  is  in  itself  a  curiosity.  Other  dishes 
used  by  the  cooks  were  two-eared  flagons  or  flasks  for 
wine  and  other  liquors,  amphorse,  besides  a  number  oi 
others,  for  nearly  all  of  which  we  have  proof  of  unions  hav- 
ing existed,  who  conducted  their  manufacture. 

Finally  the  tricliniarchs  or  stewards  who  had  the  su- 
preme charge  of  kitchen  and  dining  room.  Their  name 

n  Grater.  Inscriptions  Totius  Orbil  Romannmm,  643.  10. 
»s  Orell  ,  Insbriptionum  Latinorum  Colltftio,  No.  3,229. 
»3  Fabrett,  p.  724.  443. 


400  ROME'S    VICTUALING    SYSTEM. 

was  derived  from  the  celebrated  triclinium  or  dining-couch 
of  the  ancients.  It  was  a  seat,  generally  cushioned,  which 
extended  around  three  sides  of  the  table,  upon  which 
people  did  not  sit,  but  reclined — a  practice  so  demonstra- 
tive of  exuberant  luxury,  if  not  of  lasciviousness  that  it 
was  abolished  as  one  of  the  abominations  by  the  Chris- 
tians and  seems  to  have  completely  disappeared  from  the 
earth.  There  is  extant  at  least  one  monument  giving  clear 
evidence  of  a  society  of  this  kind,  called  in  the  inscrip- 
tion 31  tricliniarum  socii.  It  is  in  the  museum  of  Home  and 
bears  a  very  queer,  unpolished  style  of  Latin. 

»  Fabett,  449,  59» 


CHAPTER  XVH. 

INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNES 

AMUSEMENTS   OF  OLD.     UNIONS  OF  PLAYERS. 

THE  COLLEGIA  SC^ENICORUM — Unions  of  Mimics — Horrible  Mimic 
Performances  in  Sicily — Bloody  Origin  of  Wakes — Unions 
of  Dancers,  Trumpeters,  Bagpipers,  and  Hornblowers — Ti  p 
Flute-Players — Roman  Games — Unions  of  C  ircus  Performei  s 
— Of  Gladiators — Of  Actors — Murdering  Robust  Wresilei  - 
for  Holiday  Pastimes — Unions  of  Fortune-tellers — Proofs  in 
the  Inscriptions — Ferocious  Gladiatorial  Scenes  between  the 
Workingmen  and  Tigers,  Lions,  Bears,  and  Other  Wild  Beasts 
made  compulsory  by  Roman  Law. 

THE  Greeks  and  Komans  are  known  to  have  given  at  an 
early  period  much  attention  to  amusements,  in  which  it 
appears  there  was  a  larger  admixture  of  the  lowly,  with 
the  noble  class  than  occurred  in  other  pursuits.  The 
theatre  with  the  Greeks,  was  quite  a  democratic  affair. 
The  earliest  theatres  were  rude ;  but  during  the  heroic 
ages  immense  buildings  were  constructed.  That  of  Me- 
gapolis  in  Arcadia  was  of  gigantic  size.  Their  size  was 
such  that  roofs  were  out  of  the  question,  and  people  sat 
on  stone  seats  for  from  four  to  eight  hours  in  daytime 
exposed  to  sun  and  rain,  during  the  performances,  listen- 
ing to,  and  bound  up  in  enthusiastic  delight  over  the  ini- 
mitable sallies  of  Aristophanes  in  the  "Babylonians,"  satyr- 
ing  the  tyrant  Cleon,  or  thrilled  by  the  sublime  grandeur 
of  tragedy  and  mimic  of  Sophocles  and  Euripides  at 
Athens.  Some  of  the  great  theatres  were  capable  of  hold- 
ing 60,000  spectators.  The  great  theatre  at  Ephesus  was 
660  feet  in  diameter  and  one  in  Syracuse  440  feet.  An 
immense  wooden  theatre,  built  by  Scaurus  at  Rome,  65 


402  ORGANIZED   AMUSERS. 

years  before  Christ,  and  at  the  moment  when  intolerance 
to  the  labor  unions  and  profligacy  among  the  grandees 
were  beginning  to  crumble  the  proud  Romans  into  de- 
moralization and  decay,  was  capable  of  accommodating 
€0,000  people. 

We  find  no  fewer  than  six  genuine  trade  unions;  called, 
on  the  stones,  collegia  scaenicorum.1  They  are  coeval  with 
the  age  of  the  Roman  theatres.  Their  members  of  course, 
fared  better  than  the  gladiators,8  another  class  who  con- 
tributed to  the  Roman  pastimes ;  but  they  were  hard- 
worked  people  and  all  belonged  to  the  proletaries. 

We  shall  bring  to  view  as  illustrative  of-  our  object, 
principal^  the  Roman  life  in  this  section  of  the  ancient 
trade  unions,  not  because  we  are  wanting  of  archteologi- 
cal  specimens ;  for  there  are  very  many  profoundly  in- 
teresting relics  of  the  life  of  ancient  labor  now  being  dis- 
covered among  the  ruins  of  the  Greeks.  Renan,  Wescher, 
Foucart  and  Bockh  have  eloquently  told  the  story  and 
the  solemn  silence  of  crumbling  marbles,  like  skeletons 
seem  to  be  speaking  in  incoherent  phrase  of  a  day  when 
the  whole  Greek  world  was  ablaze  with  labor  communes, 
whose  secrecy  was  suggestive  of  a  smouldering  social 
volcano.  But  if  we  gave  them  all  it  would  make  this 
work  tediously  voluminous.  Besides,  the  inscriptions  in 
the  Latin  tongue  seem  to  bring  the  matter  under  inves- 
tigation more  conspicuously  before  us,  not  only  because 
they  are  topographically  less  remote  but  because  the  Ian- 
gauge  in  which  they  come  to  us  is  smoother  and  more  in- 
telligible to  the  readers  of  the  western  world. 

In  the  Wiener  Jahrbuch  for  1829  there  appeared  a  de- 
ciphering of  an  inscription  on  a  plate  of  bronze  containing 
an  epitaph  of  the  president  of  a  union  of  mimic  actors. 
It  is  written  in  the  second  person.  He  had  lived  to  be 
nearly  a  hundred  years  old ;  had  never  aspired  above  his 
fellows  and  had  died  bidding  them  farewell.  It  is  in  the 
Museum  at  Pesth.  Several  others  have  been  found  in 
Austrian  territory.  Orelli8  describes  several  anaglyphs 

1  One  found  at  Wasserstadt,  Aquceni"iim,  a  suburb  of  Buda,  by  Labus  and 
published  at  Milan,  1827  reads:  "Genio  Collegio  Scjeniariorum  Felan,  Secundus 
Monitor  Decreto  Decunonum. 

2  Chapter  xii.,  Spartacus,  init. 

*  Orelli,  Inscriptionum  Lalinorum    Collfctio.  in  his  Collegia  Corpora,  Sodalicia 
No.  7,183.    Vol.  Ill,  Henzen. 


A.    CURIOUS  STONE.  403 

in  stone  and  metal  composition,  which  have  withstood  the 
erosions  of  nature  fully  2,000  years.  la  the  Res  Scaenica 
and  Ludi,  one  is  quoted  from  Muratori,*  bearing  uncer- 
tain evidence  that  it  was  a  union  of  histrionic  artists.  It 
was  from  Prseneste.  Two  remarkable  tablets  bearing 
record  of  the  year  112  A.  D.  are  noted  by  Gorins.5  They 
were  preserved  in  the  museum  at  Florence,  and  unless 
recently  removed,  are  there  still.  Upon  these  slabs  are 
inscribed  the  names  of  soldiers  of  the  seven  Roman  co- 
horts, of  the  praetorian  force  of  Misenum  ever  on  the  alert 
conducting  the  scenic  plays.  Claudius  Gnorimus  is  be- 
ing made  an  aedile  or  superintendent  of  public  works  by 
the  battalion;  plays  are  going  on  by  the  acting  comrades 
with  their  buffoons.  Among  all  these  are  to  be  observed: 
1st.  The  head  mimic  actor ;  2d.  The  mimic  Greek  'ea  1- 
ers;  3d.  The  clowns;  4th.  The  Greek  clowns ;  5th.  Tne 
Greek  actors ;  6th.  The  jesting  dandies ;  7th.  A  working- 
man.  All  the  names  of  the  soldiers  are  given  in  the  vo- 
cative case.  Consequently  the  inscription  is  too  long  to 
be  given  entire  in  any  work  which  we  have  seen.  It 
portrays  the  kind  of  military  theatrical  scene  which  used 
to  be  enacted  200  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  or  about  1,700  years  ago  and  of  course,  much 
earlier.6  Another  inscription  appears  among  the  Res 
Scaenica  in  Orelli's  catalogue  which  still  more  clearly  rep- 
resents a  mutually  protective  union  of  actors.  It  was 
found  at  the  French  city  of  Vienne,  a  few  miles  from  Ly- 
ons, on  the  Rhone,  by  Millin.7  It  is  also  very  ancient 
and  shows  that  in  that  far  off  country  of  the  AUobroges 
there  was  a  great  population  long  before  Caesar's  inva- 
sion. 

Although  we  are  endeavoring  to  give  the  facts  consec- 

«  Muratori,  Thesaur.,  C69,  1;  Gruter,  Inter.  Tot.  Orb.  Rom.,  330,  3. 

*  Cf.  Etrutcan  /user..  I.  p.  125  and  II,  p.  447  and  Mnr.,  886-887, 

•  Consult  Orellius,  Inscriptionum  Latinarum  Collectio,  No.  2.608.     Muratori, 
Thesaur,  886-7.     Gorius  Elr. ,  I.  p,  123.     "  Memorabiles  sunt  tabulae  anni  p.  Chr. 
212,  duae  a  Gorio  Etr.  1.  p  125   (2,447).  et  Mur.  886  et  887  editae,  Florentine  nunc 
adsertae,  in  quibus  referuntur  nomina  militum  ex  Cohortibns  VII.    Vigiluni  et 
Classis  praetoriae  Misenatis,  qui  Ludos  scenicos  egerunt,  quum  Claudius  Gncri- 
mus  aedilis  factus  esset  a  vexillatione,  luuosque  ederet,  '  agentibus  commilitoni- 
bus  cum  suis  acroamatibus  '     In  his  notandi;  1.  Archimimns.     2.  Arcliimimi 
Graeci.    3.  Stupidi.    4   Stupidi  Graeci.    5.  Scaenici  Graeci     6.  Scurra.     7.  Oper- 
ariuB.    Omnia  militum  nomina  vocative  efferuntiir,"    For  more  on  the  vexillum, 
red  flag,  and  vexillalio,  consult  our  chapter  on  the  ancient  red  flag  of  the  work- 
ingman. 

'  Voyage,  2,  p.  21. 


404  ORGANIZED   AM  USERS. 

utively,  we  shall  here  be  compelled,  for  want  of  data,  to 
mention  in  an  anacoluthical  manner,  some  of  the  most 
interesting  of  these  unions  known  to  have  existed  coeval 
with  those  times,  or  approximately  so. 

The  cotntnuniones  mimorum,  one  of  which8  was  dis- 
covered in  the  ruins  of  the  theatre  Bovillensis,  and  others 
in  great  numbers  in  Greece9  and  elsewhere,  were  unions 
of  mimic  actors.  They  constituted  an  order  by  them- 
selves. It  appears  that  they  marched  around  in  the  cities 
and  took  from  their  friends  and  the  public  whatever  gifts 
were  offered.  We  mention  these  data  to  exhibit  to  our 
readers  the  collossal  scale  on  which  amusements  were 
conducted,  that  the  mind  may  be  prepared  to  compre- 
hend the  vast  amount  of  labor  of  the  lowly,  which  the  evo- 
lutions of  this  business  entailed. 

Following  up  our  scheme  of  inquiry  into  the  dark  chasms 
and  gaps  of  history,  from  a  standpoint  of  sociological  in- 
vestigation, our  point  of  intensest  interest  is  the  question 
whether  these  purveyors  of  pastimes  were  organized.  Of 
this  there  is  abundance  of  evidence  in  the  inscriptions. 
In  the  catalogue  of  the  archaeologist  Orelli,  there  appear 
no  less  than  12  tolerably  well  preserved  slabs  which  show 
not  less  than  a  hundred  unions  ! 

At  Rome  there  is  an  inscription,  much  broken  and  de- 
faced by  time  and  neglect,10  which  bears  positive  proof 
that  the  theatre  players  were  not  only  organized  but  that 
they,  like  the  gladiators  belonged  to  the  plebeian  stock. 
Caput  VI.,  of  Orelli's  work,  headed  Ludi,  Res  Scaenica  et 
cet.,  has  no  less  than  116  inscriptions,  a  large  number 
of  which  are  seen  at  a  glance  to  be  either  genuine  unions 
or  corporate  communes.  But  as  some  of  these  unions 
were  those  of  gladiators,  we  reserve  their  description  for 
that  more  tragical  and  brutal  class  of  amusement, 

A  very  remarkable  mimic  performance  for  enjoyment 
was  once  in  vogue  during  the  insurrection  of  the  Sicilian 
slaves  B.  C.  143-134.  It  may  not  be  generally  known 
that  in  addition  to  accredited  kings  and  tyrants  of  Sicily 
there  once  reigned  a  king  of  the  slaves.  The  extraordi- 

8  Orell.,  Inscr.,  No.  2,625,  also  NOB.  4,094,  4,101. 

9  Mommsen,  De  Collegriis  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum,  p.  83.     "Communia  mim- 
orum Romanorum,  et  in  nomine  et  in  institutis  TO.  KOIVO.  r<av  irepi  rbv  Atocvcroi' 
Ttyviriav  referent,  quae  apud  Greecos  ampla  et  plurima  fuerunt."     Idem,  note  6, 
"  Communia  Mimorum  multa  inveniuntur,"  etc.,  etc. 

10  Orell.,  No.  2,619;  Marini,  AUi.  2,  p.  488. 


FOOD   OF  THE   WORK  PEOPLE.  405 

nary  history  of  king  Eunus  is  so  interesting  and  so  re- 
plete with  passages  which  enlighten  the  student  of  so- 
ciology on  points  that  we  have  reserved  for  it  a  separate 
chapter  as  a  special  illustration  of  our  theme.11  It  is 
enough  here  to  bring  forward  the  episode  alluded  -to  in 
evidence  of  the  fact  that  in  ancient  times  theatrical  per- 
formances were  sometimes  conducted  in  presence  of  ene- 
mies whereby  to  tantalize  and  to  wreak  revenge.  The 
Sicilian  capitalists,  landlords  and  slaveholders  had  for  a 
long  time  been  growing  niggardly  and  cruel.  It  was  a 
common  thing  for  a  slave  master  owning  from  500  to 
1,000  slaves,  to  call  their  poor  little  children  togrther 
precisely  as  the  herder  calls  his  swine,  and  feed  them 
nuts,  pods  and  dried  figs 1J  because  the  helpless,  enslaved 
and  horribly  cruelized  beings  were  considered  no  better 
than  hogs.  One  Polias,  an  enormously  wealthy  Agrigen- 
tine  not  only  thus  abused  his  slaves  but  often  whipped 
large  numbers  of  them  at  the  post  at  night,  to  prepare 
them  for  obedience  the  following  day.  Damophilus,  who 
owned  500  slaves  at  Enna  in  Sicily,  was  another  extremely 
rich  planter.  He  starved  his  human  chattels,  while  at 
the  same  time  driving  them  beyond  their  powers.  One 
day  several  of  them  ventured  to  ask  him  for  more  cloth- 
ing ;  for  the  place  is  many  feet  above  the  sea  and  chilly 
during  some  seasons  of  the  year.  Their  supplication 
though  given  in  a  respectful  manner  was  treated  not 
only  with  refusal  but  with  a  severe  castigation.  His  wife, 
Megallis,  was,  if  possible,  the  most  heartless  and  brutal  of 
the  two.  She,  with  her  own  hand  stabbed  and  whipped 
to  death  several  of  her  female  slaves,  first  torturing  them 
with  her  knife  and  her  stiletto  or  needle.13  Unable  to  en- 
dure their  inhuman  tortures  the  infuriated  slaves  sud- 
denly arose  in  rebellion  and  seizing  their  tormentors 
murdered  them  in  great  numbers.  Damophilus  was  blud- 
geoned in  the  theatre  of  Enna  in  presence  of  his  wife, 
Megallis.  A  council  was  held  on  her  case,  before  her 
husband's  dead  body,  in  the  theatre.  Our  authority  does 

11  See  Chap.  VII.    An  account  of  the  Mimic  plays  at  the  sieges,  pp.  229-230. 

12  See  Dr.  Bttcher,  Aufstande  der  Unfreien  Arbeiter,  p.  63-64,  quoting  Stobeua 
on  Florilus,  LXII,  48.    We  have  also  in  many  places  given  quotations  proving 
this  by  other  authors.    See  index,  Food  oj  the  Slaves  and  Frtedmen. 

is  Consult  chapter  is  On  Eunus.  and  the  first  Sicilian  war,  where  quota- 
tions  explaining  these  torutalities,  taken  from  the  iragments  of  Diodorus,  are 
given,  together  with  excerpts  from  Bucher  and  others. 


406  ORGANIZED  AMUSERS. 

not  establish  that  the  mimic  performance  was  gone 
through  with  during  the  wild  gloatings  of  that  bloody 
night;  but  no  doubt  the  tables  were  turned  upon  the 
trembling  millionaires  who  before  were  wont  to  shout 
with  almost  equal  savagery  at  the  mutual  murder  of  their 
myrmidons  acting  as  their  slaves.  The  result  of  the  trial 
of  Megallis,  was  her  condemnation  and  sentence  to  death. 
She  wap  dragged  to  a  rock  and  plunged  headlong  into 
the  hideous  abyss  by  the  women  themselves.  Their 
daughter,  a  tender  girl  who  had  many  times  remonstrated 
against  her  mother's  cruelty,  was  treated  with  respectful 
courtesy,  guarded  from  danger  and  under  escort  sent  to 
a  place  of  safety.  This  uprising  lasted  10  years ;  during 
which  time  many  places  were  captured  by  siege.  The 
slaves  who,  according  to  history,14  at  length  arose  to  the 
number  of  200,000  in  Sicily,  inaugurated  the  system  of 
holding  histrionic  mimes  composed  in  their  own  rude 
vehicles  of  thought  and  represented  by  performers  who 
could  best  reproduce,  in  presence  of  their  previous  tor- 
mentors, scenes  which  they  and  their  children  had  suf- 
lered  when  they  were  chattels.  In  this  manner  they 
doubtless  wreaked  a  rude  and  gloating  satisfaction  too 
malignant  for  true  humanity,  but  certainly  not  surpris- 
ing, considering  their  former  misery.15 

Spartacus,  the  celebrated  gladiator,  after  the  battle  of 
Picenum,  when  he  held  in  his  hands  the  officers  and  men 
of  the  Roman  army  as  prisoners  of  war,  although  a 
humane  and  kind-hearted  general,  delighted  his  soldiers 
by  compelling  those  proud  and  high-born  gentiles  to  re- 
( nact  upon  the  field  of  battle  and  in  honor  of  the  manes 
of  Crixus  their  fallen  hero,  the  same  gladiatorial  scenes 
which  he  and  his  comrades  when  slaves,  were  destined 
to  perform  on  the  arena.  In  the  captive's  hand  was  put 
the  gladium  and  in  the  humiliating  garb  of  an  ergastular- 
ius,  or  convict,  condemned  to  fight  in  the  mock  amphi- 
theatre and  for  bis  audience  the  vast  army  of  victorious 
rebel  slaves  and  gladiators,  many  a  haughty  Roman  knight 
with  his  unspeakable  contempt  for  the  very  condition  of 

i*  For  all  known  particulars  ot  this  great  servile  war,  see  Bucher,  Ausftdndt 
der  Unfreien  Arbeiter. 

is  Bticher,  Aufst.,  S.  66-67.  Died.  XXXIV..  frag.  34.  Liiders,  Die  Dionytidun 
KuYi&tler,  pp.  105-131. where  are  explained  the  numerous  theatrical  habits  to  which 
he  Greek  artisans  were  addicted. 


ORIGIN    OF    WAKES.  407 

slavery,  was  forced  to  make  the  runs  and  re-enact  the 
bloody  work  it  had  been  the  now  victorious  rebels'  own 
undignified  misfortune  to  perform  upon  the  Roman  sands. 
Surely,  the  knights  of  Lentulus,  Poplicola  and  the  other 
captured  soldiers  could  now  have  a  practical  insight  into 
the  causes  of  the  great  insurrection,  when,  under  sting- 
ing urgents  of  their  mock  scholae  praeceptores,  they 
punched  each  other,  to  the  music  of  jeer  and  of  derision 
from  70,000  vengeance-wreaking  infuriates  ! 

Wakes 16  held  over  the  deceased  bodies  of  friends  are 
not  of  Christian  origin  but  of  a  much  higher  Pagan  an- 
tiquity. Again,  where  history  is  silent,  the  inscriptions 
— those  whispering  chroniclers  like  grinning  skeletons 
of  the  murdered — survive  to  lisp  their  testimony  be- 
fore our  courts  of  science.  This  subject  of  the  origin  and 
practice  of  holding  wakes,  supposed  by  some  to  belong 
to  the  Christianized  races,  is  really  to  be  sought  among 
the  stones  which  tell  the  savage  tales  of  haughty  masters' 
funeral  feasts  whereat  poor  workingmen  were  forced  to 
fight  as  gladiators ;  and  when  they  fell  by  mutually  inflicted 
gashes,  were  buried  beside  the  great  dead  hero  with  the 
object  of  remaining  guard  to  him  as  they  had  done  in  life. 
This  is  the  true  origin  of  wakes.  They  were  originally, 
extremely  bloody,  and  should  be  classed  among  other 
specimens  of  moribund  or  fading  heathen  customs,  that 
are  gradually  disappearing  from  the  earth. 

Scholars  reading  the  Latin  classics,  are  sometimes  puz- 
zled to  comprehend  the  reason  why  Cicero,  Suetonius, 
Florus  and  the  rest,  so  unexceptionally  speak  of  the  dan- 
cer, saltator;  the  female  dancer,  saltatrix,  and  the  little  girl 
danc' T,  saltatricula,  with  a  species  of  contumely.  Of 
every  thing  not  human,  however  humble,  they  could  speak 
in  praise.  Their  favorite  horses,  dogs,  cats,  even  cows 
could  earn  a  good  word  and  a  eiut^s;  and  all  things  ger- 
main  to  their  household  were  worthy  of  a  i\  c jll'ng  thought 
But  it  is  a  seemingly  strange  fact  that  dancers  who  worked 
so  hard  to  amuse  the  ancients,  get  only  a  reproachful 
mention. 

Among  amusements  it  may  be  best  to  class  the  various 
kinds  of  musical  instrument  players.  There  was  a  regular 
union  of  the  trumpeters,  aenatores.1''  Another  sort  of 

10  Friedlander,  Darstcttungen  aus  der  SMengeschichle  Roms.  II,  Itt 


408  ORGANIZED    AMUSERS. 

trumpeter  was  the  buccinator,  who  played  the  shepherd's 
horn  which  had  a  long  range  of  sound.18  These  trumpet- 
ers also  accompanied  the  army.  Usually  the  horns  were 
crooked.  Mommsen  who  has  worked  out  the  evidences 
in  regard  to  the  Roman  arrangement  of  centurians,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  military  notions  which  distributed  the 
trade  unions  into  squads  of  tens  and  hundreds,  thinks  that 
another  trumpeter,  the  liticen 19  also  had  his  union,  prob- 
ably a  mutually  protective  association  like  the  musicians' 
unions  of  the  present  time.  The  liticenes,  were  clarion 
blowers  and  their  music  was  shrill  and  exciting.  Still  an- 
other kind  of  trumpeters  were  the  tubicencs  w  who  are  like- 
wise known  to  have  been  an  organized  profession  or  trade. 
They  played  the  tuba.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  how 
a  separate  society  was  necessary  for  each  instrument.  If 
there  were  a  number  of  different  instruments  in  each, 
corresponding  to  a  band  of  music  organized  for  self-sup- 
port, as  in  our  times,  it  would  not  appear  remarkable. 

The  union  of  scabillarii  "  does  not  appear  so  inconsist- 
ent ;  since  the  ancient  scabellium  was  an  awkward  instru- 
ment played  upon  by  the  feet,  while  very  probably  the 
hands  were  also  employed  thrumming  another  instrument 
whose  harmonies  combined,  made  a  band  of  themselves. 
The  bagpipe  is  known  to  be  an  ancient  instrument — so  old 
that  its  invention  is  ascribed  to  a  god  of  the  mythical  an- 
tiquity. Whether  the  old  tibia  utricularis  was  the  identi- 
cal bagpipe  of  the  Scotch  Highlanders  is  a  question;  but 
judging  from  the  derivation  of  the  word  there  is  a  strong 
reason  to  suppose  that  no  great  change  has  taken  place  in 
its  construction.  The  bagpipers  had  an  association  called 
the  collegium  utricularium™  and  there  are  several  inscrip- 
tions to  that  effect.  In  addition  to  the  one  found  by  Do- 
nati,  we  have  one  described  in  Gruter's  collection  and  cat- 
alogued by  Orelli.23  It  was  found  at  Lyons.  It  is  some- 
1hing  like  an  epitaph  and  the  work  bears  the  marks  of 
h  iving  been  dedicated  to  the  name  of  the  president,  mag- 

'•'  Of  this  we  have  assurance  in  the  work  of  Grater,  Inscriptions  Totius  Orbt 
I.om  norum.  No.  261,  4;  a  marble  slab  giving  unmistakable  evidence. 

1   Idem,  1,116,  4.  19  Orell.,  Inscr.,  No.  4,105. 

*  Idem,  Nos.  2,448  and  1,803  both  were  collegia  or  unions. 

»   Orell.  Inscr.  4,117  ;  2,643. 

«:  Orell.,  Nos.  4,119,  4,120,  4.121,  all  were  unions,  also  Donati,  2,  p.  470.  9, 
citee  a  stone  found  at  CabeUi,  which  has  merited  considerable  comment.  The 
inscription  registers  a  genuine  union. 

•'Orell.,  Inter.  Lot.  OoU.  No.  4,244.    Nos.  9,208  and  6,803  are  also  unions, 


WIND  INSTRUMENT    PLAYERS.  409 

ister,  of  the  organization ;  although,  in  this  case  no  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  usual  word  collegium  or  corpus. 

The  cornicen  or  horn  player  was  another  musician  "*  who 
is  found  mentioned  on  the  same  marble  with  a  liticen  at 
Rome.  But  the  music  of  the  horn  blowers  and  that  of  the 
clarion  players  was  so  similar  that  it  may,  in  this  case,  be 
a  confusion  of  the  two  in  one. 

The  flute  players  deserve  a  more  particular  mention. 
Among  the  Romans  they  were  called  tibicenes,  and  among 
the  Greeks  auletrides.  In  very  remote  antiquity  the  latter 
existed  at  Athens  and  other  cities  of  Attica.  They  were 
poor  girls  of  lowly  origin  who  went  about  playing  their 
flutes  and  earning  here  and  there  a  little  coin,  sufficient 
to  keep  them  from  suffering.  Some  of  them  were  very 
beautiful;  and  as  this  natural  accomplishment  was  some- 
times more  charming  even  than  their  music,  there  goes  up 
a  charge  against  their  character.16  It  is  now  known  that 
these  flute  players  were  organized  in  a  trade  union  or  some 
kind  of  a  labor  federation.  In  order  to  carry  on  their 
business  they  were  required  to  pay  a  small  tax  to  the  gov- 
ernment as  a  license,  which  tax  was  collected  by  the  vec- 
tigalarii  as  stated  in  our  chapter  on  the  customs  collect- 
ora  This  was  another  union  whose  members  were  re- 
quired by  the  state  to  collect  the  last  denarius,  even  if 
they  had  to  torture,  imprison  or  sell  the  poor,  impecuni- 
ous creatures  as  slaves.  It  may  therefore  have  happened 
that  a  beautiful  auletrid,  before  surrendering  her  llf e  as  a 
slave  and  legalized  concubine  of  the  wealthy  Roman  or 
Athenian  who  bought  her  at  the  shambles,  would  some- 
times procure  the  inveterate  tax  money  by  accepting  the 
best  available  offers  which  promised  life  and  liberty. 

At  Rome  a  genuine  flute  players'  union,  collegium  tibi- 
cenum  Romanorum  existed26  during  the  emperors  which 
was  shielded  from  the  repressive  laws  against  organiza- 
tion by  being  a  sacred  commune.  Probably  the  girls 
played  sacred  music  on  occasions.27  That  there  were 
male  members  in  this  commune  is  certain.  The  wording 
of  the  inscription  shows  this  one  name  taking  the  mascu- 
line termination.  There  were  also  at  Athens  and  the  Pi- 

«« Idem,  No.  4,105. 

Ss  Of.  Sanger's  History  of  Prostitution,  chap,  iii,  p.  46. 

««  Reines,  pp.  184-167. 

«r  "  Qui  sacris  publicis  presto  aunt.  "    Orell.,  Inter.  No.  1,83 . 


410  ORGANIZED    AMUSE RS. 

rseus  many  of  the  aulitrides  or  Greek  flutists  who  lived 
rmder  protection  of  their  gallant  unions.  A  study  of  the 
excellent  work  of  Ghul  and  Konor 28  will  afford  the  reader 
much  additional  knowledge  upon  the  subject  of  ancient 
music. 

The  great  ludi  cerce»ses  which,  although  in  point  of  his- 
tory, treatment  of  performers  and  other  features,  were 
very  different  from  the  gladiatorial  style  of  amusement, 
so  resemble  these  latter  in  many  other  respects  that  it 
seems  consistent  to  treat  of  them  as  belonging  to  one 
variety.  The  Roman  circus  was  not  the  only  institution 
of  its  kind.  There  was  evidently  a  circus  at  Lyons.  An 
inscription  mentioning  a  union  of  players,  speaks  of  thn 
right  of  organization  at  Lyons,  for  all  who  wish.29 

Everything  built  to  entertain  amusement  seekers  among 
the  Romans,  whether  at  Rome,  Pompeii  or  elsewhere,  if 
public,  took  the  amphitheatrical  shape.  There  were 
numerous  race-courses  at  Rome,  some  of  which  were  of 
prodigious  extent.  The  circus  Maximus30  was  enormous. 
"According  to  the  latest  calculations,  in  late  imperial 
times,  it  must  have  contained  480,000  seats.  It  is  about 
21,000  feet  long  by  400  wide." 3l  It  is  very  old,  having 
been  begun  by  Tarquinius  Priscus.  These  figures  are 
sufficient  proof  of  themselves,  that  Rome  once  contained 
an  immense  population.  Large  numbers  of  slaves  were 
necessary  to  supply  the  labor  of  these  enormous  public 
works.  The  many  scenes  of  hippodromes,  chariot-run- 
ning, foot-racing,  of  archery,  mock  manosuvres,  and  sham 
battles  were  observable  from  a  great  distance.  They 
thrilled  vast  audiences. 

But  the  inner  life  of  the  poor  who  were  to  manage  and 
carry  out  the  innumerable  features  of  those  games  is  a 
subject  which  the  reader  of  history  learns  little.  They 
•were  all  of  the  lowly  class  and  eked  out  a  living  under 
many  difficulties  and  humiliations;  and  many  of  those 
who  were  not  slaves  but  existed  in  the  capacity  of  freed- 
men,  took  refuge  from  abuse  and  overtoil  under  the  mea- 
gre privilege  left  them  to  unite  in  mutual  self-aid. 

a  Gnhl  and  Koner,  Life  of  the  Greeks  andRomans,  Tr.  F.  Hueffer,  (Lon.  Ch  •:("&:» 
and  Windus.) 

»  Grut.,  431, 1.     Infer.  Tot.  Orbit  Bom. 

so  Guhl  and  Koner,  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  Tr.  pp.  422-428. 

»  Guhl  and  Koner,  pp.  4ii3-4  note.    See  fig.  431  note. 


CARNAGE   OF  THE   SANDS.  411 

But  the  celebrated  gladiatorial  amusements  are  more 
generally  known  to  us  at  this  day,  although  the  circus 
performance  has  outlived  them,  being  yet  common  on  a 
much  smaller  scale.  There  was  no  mockery  about  the 
amphitheatre.  The  combats  were  real.  We  have  already 
spoken  of  the  large  traffic  in  lions,  tigers,  leopards  and 
other  wild  animals  for  the  combats.  Not  only  did  the 
Romans  pit  lion  with  tiger,  panther  with  bear,  lynxes  and 
leopards  with  serpents,  but  they  matched  tigers,  lions 
and  serpents  of  terrible  ferocity  with  men.  When  at  the 
great  games  the  stock  of  fierce  wild  animals  was  killed  off 
they  sent  hunters  in  quest  of  more  Romanelli 32  pre- 
serves an  inscription  which  for  clearness  has  been  re- 
garded by  the  archaeologists  as  an  object  of  much  value. 
The  inscription  commemorates  a  family  (probably  a  com- 
munity) of  hunters  of  Pompeii,  who  procured  noble  ga?ne 
from  the  forests,  and  mentions  Popidius  Rufus  as  the 
manager  of  the  familia  gladiatorum. 

We  have  elsewhere  seen  that  there  were  unions  of 
sweepers  of  the  amphitheatres,  collegia  arenariorum.  They 
were  not  requii'ed  to  fight  in  the  arena.  They  dragged 
the  dead  gladiators  off  the  sands,  shoveled  up  the  blood, 
new-sprinkled  the  floor  with  sand,  sharpened  the  gladia 
or  swords  as  well  as  the  javelins  and  other  tools,  stood 
ready  to  perform  any  service;  even  perhaps  that  of  cut- 
ting off  the  heads  of  vanquished  gladiators  who  heroically, 
when  hors  de  combat,  bleeding  and  dying  with  their  gaping 
gashes,  impatient  of  death,  bent  the  head  to  receive  the 
severing  stroke  of  the  broadsword." 

Mariiii  found  two  queer  inscriptions,  graved  on  one 
stone,  of  gladiators  who  "fell  fighting,  steel  in  hand.** 

32  Romanelli,  Viaggio  a  Compel,  tome  I,  p.  82;  Marina,  Atti,  I,  p.  166.    It  it 
clear  that  there  must  have  been  lions  in  the  forests  of  Mt  Olympus  for  Polyda- 
mus  the  wrestler  (B.  C.  404,  see  Plato,  Bekk.  Lond.  chap.  XII  note)  killed  a  huge 
lion  there.    Lions  are  known  to  have  lived  in  Germany  and  hyenas  ia  Fn,;.    F«?e 
Buckland,  Relifu<x  Diluvtance,  Lond.,  1822  because  their  bones  are  now  bem-i 
found  in  the  Pleistocene  caves. 

33  BnlwerLytton's,i<w*  Days  of  Pompeii,  where  these  awful  scenes  are  grapu- 
Ically  set  forth. 

3J  Marini,  Atti,  1,  p.  165.  The  modern  ages  are  actively  studying  out  the 
horrors  of  the  gladiatorial  combats.  We  refer  the  reader  who  may  doubt  as  to 
whether  those  people  fought  under  the  most  intense  humiliations,  to  the  cnts  of 
Guhl  and  Koner,  pp.  662-3,  trans. .  showing  the  distressing  scenes  of  these  fights 
with  the  wild  animals,  also  to  Carey,  Principles  of  Political  Economy,  Part  1 1 1 .  p. 
123:  "The  great  mass  having  sunk  to  barbarous  rudeness,  bloody  gladiatorial 
games  and  combats  of  wild  beasts  took  the  place  of  dramatic  representations 
while  the  few  were  becoming  more  refined  and  fastidious."  To  the  Iconographit 
Cyclopedia,  Division  IV,  New  York.  1851,  R.  Garrigue.  Tafel  16.  magnificent 


412  OR  OANIZED    AM  USERS. 

Inscription  No.  2,552  of  Orelli's  Res  Scaenica  is  designated 
by  him  as  representing  gladiatorial  combats  in  the  collis- 
ium.  It  is  a  horrible  thought  for  an  age  like  this  to  en- 
dure; yet  there  was  a  time  when  killing  men  for  sport 
was  so  popular  that  crowned  heads  were  turned  from 
meditation  to  convulsions  of  delight  by  the  sight ;  and 
ladies  dressed  in  the  costliest  attire  of  fashion  could  sit 
for  hours  bewitched  with  the  whirl,  the  charge,  the  lunge 
of  steel  and  shrieks  of  pain,  the  spurt  of  blood  from  the 
wounds  of  naked  men,  the  roar  of  lions  and  screech  and 
growl  of  tigers,  bears  and  wolves,  the  murderous  hand-to- 
hand  fights  of  the  hoplomachi  with  heavy  swords  and  the 
whole  swirling,  mazy,  gory  labyrinth  of  the  Roman  arena ! 
Surely,  forced  as  we  are  to  admit  that  such  scenes  of  cru- 
elty really  once  existed,  as  it  were,  among  our  forefathers, 
we  feel  almost  constrained  to  admit  that  the  many  thous- 
ands of  years  which  had  flown  before  the  present  era,  had 
produced  little  better  than  savages  to  people  the  world. 
Those  awful  brutalities  were  the  product  of  the  slave  sys- 
tem. They  could  not  have  taken  place  where  men  were 
free. 

The  gladiators  had  several  different  names.  Some  were 
called  gladiators,  some  Mirmillions,  some  agitators,  some 
pugnatores,  some  ergastularii,  according  to  their  social 
rank  and  the  kind  of  weapons  with  which  they  were  al- 
lowed to  consummate  their  murderous  tasks.  But  slaves 
though  they  were,  they  found  means  to  accomplish  frater- 
nal unions.  That  there  were  unions  of  gladiators  inscriptions 
exist  so  plentifully  to  prove,  that  the  most  skeptical  can  no 
longer  doubt.  There  are  several  inscriptions,  evidently 
signs  of  gladiator  brokers,36  showing  that  there  were  specu- 
lators in  this  species  of  human  flesh.  Being  slaves  and  not 
freedmen,  except  in  cases  where  they  won  freedom  by  kill- 
ing their  adversary,  human  or  wild  beast,  thus  achieving 
their  manumission,  they  could  only  with  difficulty  organize 
for  mutual  help. 

Orelli,  in  Res  Scaenica,  No.  2,066  reproduces  the  remark- 
able inscription  of  Donati,  found  in  Borne,  which  is  acknow- 

steel  engraving  of  the  arena,  where  are  seen  fighting  men,  women,  elephants, 
tigers,  lions,  panthers  and  serpents,  for  the  amusements  of  myriads  in  the  seats 
above !  That  they  fought  naked  see  Idem  Hecht,  Section  IX,  Tafel  7,  Vol.  II. 
Plates,  showing  men  killing  men. 

»  Orell.,  Inscr.  4,197  and  4,247  of  Aries  et  Opificia. 


ORGANIZED   FORTUNE-TELLERS.  413 

ledged  to  have  served  a  union.  Of  itself  it  is  an  object  of 
surprise ;  and  has  not  yet  been  studied  enough  to  shed  all 
the  light  that  was  latent  in  its  curious  palaeograph.  There 
are  recorded  in  the  Res  Scaenica  of  Orelli  not  less  than  a 
dozen  genuine  trade  unions  of  the  gladiatorial  art.  This  of 
itself  makes  it  conjectural  whether  there  was  not  some  law 
relative  to  the  organization  of  slaves. 

Fortune-telling  was  so  common  that  there  is  a  law  in  the 
code  of  Theodosius  providing  for  a  union  of  fortune-tellers, 
corpus  nemesiacorum.36  They  had  a  secret  order  whose 
members  worshipped  the  goddess  of  fortune,  called  Deo, 
Nemesi.  They  were  something  like  our  clairvoyants;  some 
of  them  like  our  psycologists  but  more  nearly  resembling 
the  aruspices  and  diviners  of  oracles.  Such  was  the  super- 
stition among  all  classes  that  they  were  held  in  high  esteem 
by  rich  and  poor  and  probably  patronized  a  good  deal,  thus 
affording  an  opportunity  to  combine  profit  with  mysterious 
wisdom. 

There  are  some  great  stories  connected  with  superstition. 
Eunus  the  slave  king  of  Ennain  Sicily  was  a  fortune-teller. 
The  poor  downtrodden  slaves,  crushed  to  the  lowest  condi- 
tion which  left  breath  and  animation  in  their  tortured 
frames,  when  they  heard  of  his  wise  sayings — some  of  which, 
like  those  of  our  weather  prophets,  came  true — and  when 
they  were  informed  by  him  that  be  was  destined  to  quit 
the  servile  post  of  waiter  in  his  master's  family  and  assume 
the  royal  robes  of  a  monarch,  they  believed  him;  and  this 
superstitious  credulity  actually  wrought  the  fact.  He  was 
fortune-teller,  fire-eater,  prestidigitator  and  stump  speaker; 
and  combined  with  all  this  a  bluff  managerial  talent  and  a 
rollicking  good  nature  and  winsomeness  which  determined 
and  cast  the  die  to  the  greatest  insurrection  known  in  history 
unless  we  except  that  of  Spartacus.  If  he  had  no  organ- 
ization at  the  start  he  soon  effected  one.  He  also  showed 
much  shrewd  resignation  of  his  prerogatives  of  kingship 
when  he  gave  to  the  terrible  Achaeos,  and  the  impetuous 
Cleon  the  command  of  the  armies.  He  showed  a  wisdom 
akin  to  revelation  when  he  decided  not  to  take  arms  per- 
sonally but  to  stay  in  his  palace  and  blow  fire  out  of  his 
mouth,  dfSiwdle  with  the  trinkets  of  his  throne  and  let  these 

34  Nemesciaci,  a  dea  Nemesi,  qnae  eadem  est  cnm  bona  Fertana.  Cod. 
Theod  lib,  XIV,  Nat.  ad  leg,  2,  tit  VII. 


414  ORGANIZED    AMUSERS. 

generals  fight  his  battles  with  a  soldiery  of  slaves  who  be- 
lieved that  every  word  he  uttered  was  dropped  from  the 
Almighty. 

Witchcraft  and  fortune-telling  have  been  twin  trades 
from  the  earliest  times  and  were  well  worth  organizing  for; 
and  as  they  were  intimately  allied  to  the  mysteries  of  early 
religions  the  membership  had  less  difficulty  in  procuring 
laws  exempting  them  from  suppression.  But  they  carried 
it  to  intrigue  and  machination,  so  that  oftentimes  it  did  not 
restrict  itself  to  simple  amusement.  It  gained  a  strong  foot- 
hold upon  the  solemnity  of  religion  and  exercised  so  power- 
ill  1  a  control  of  men's  consciences  that  the  hints  and  pre- 
sages of  the  soothsayer  sometimes  decided  the  fortunes  of 
battle. 

Great  numbers  of  unions  of  mimic  actors  existed  among 
the  Greeks  and  Romans.87  We  have  especially  noticed  that 
part  of  the  ancient  world  inhabited  by  the  Roman  stock  of 
the  Indo-European  race ;  but  this  was  merely  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  the  fact  perspicuous  that  the  ancient  work- 
ing people  had  a  labor  movement  and  that  the  freedmen 
were  organized.  In  Greece,  Syria  Phoenicia,  Gaul,  Germany 
and  the  regions  of  the  Danube  are  also  found  inscriptions 
and  other  evidences  that  once  a  great  trade  and  labor  move- 
ment existed  covering  most  of  the  then  Roman  world.8' 

si  Mommsen,  De  Cott.  et  Sodal  Romanorum,  p.  83,  note  6.  "  Communia  mem 
orum  multa  inveniuntur." 

8«  Wallace,  Numbers  of  Mankind,  p.  142,  makes  some  remarks  which,  though 
written  a  century  ago.  are  applicable  to  the  study  which  engages  these  pagea : 
He  says :  "  As  the  riches  and  luxury  of  the  great  men  in  Rome  increased  so  pro- 
digiously, this  must  have  occasioned  a  vast  circulation,  and  a  general  plenty 
of  gold  and  silver ;  nor  was  it  possible  to  confine  the  money  to  a  few  hands; 
however,  the  necessaries  of  life  continued  at  a  moderate  price,  and  did  not  rise 
in  their  value  in  proportion  to  the  high  rates  which  were  set  on  the  materials  of 
luxury."  This  shows  that  yearning,  at  least  'tr  the  socialistic  system  largely 
prevailed  among  the  ancient  lowly. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TRADE  UNIONS. 

THE  ANCIENT  CLOTHING-CUTTERS. 

How  THE  ANCIENTS  WERE  CLOTHED — The  Unions  of  Fuller? — Of 
Linen  Weavers,  Wool-carders,  Cloth-combers — Inscr  p  o  s 
as  Proof — Later  Laws  of  Theodosius  and  Justinian  R<.v.sed 
— Government  Cloth  Mills — What  was  Meant  by  Public 
Works — Who  managed  Manufactures — The  Dyers — Old- 
fashioned  Shoes  of  the  Forefathers — How  made — Origin  of 
the  Crispins — The  Furriers'  Union — Roman  Ladies  and  Fin- 
eries of  Fur — The  great  Ragamuffin  Trade — Their  Innumer- 
able Unions — Ragpickers  of  Antiquity — Origin  of  the  Cen- 
ciajuole — Organization  of  the  Real  Tatterdemalions — Origin 
of  the  G-ypsies — Hypothesis. 

IT  is  quite  possible  to  establish  the  fact  that  the  clothing 
trades  were  organized.  Woollen  goods  in  those  times  were 
not  manufactured  in  large  mills  with  costly  macb  nery. 
Weaving  was  done  on  small  hand  looms,  and  the  fulling  of 
cloth  was  a  trade  by  itself.  Cotton  was  used  for  tents,  thea- 
tres and  also  to  some  extent  for  clothing  at  an  early  date; 
yet  our  limited  data  will  not  permit  us  to  state  that  cotton 
manufacturers  were  organized.  But  the  workers  in  wool 
had  societies,  some  of  which  were  screened  from  the  restric- 
tions imposed  on  many  other  trades,  on  account  of  their  in- 
nocent usefulness.  There  is  a  law  of  the  Theodosian  code * 
providing  for  the  right  or  privilege  of  mutual  organization 
to  the  fullers,  fullones.  We  consequently  have  a  fullers'  union 
fullonum  sodalicium *  commemorated  on  a  marble  slab,  found 

1  Cod.  Theod.,  De  Excusativnibus  Artijicum,  lib.  XIII,  tit.  IV,  lex.  2. 
a  Murator,  Thesaurus  Veterwa,  Incriptionum,  951,  9.     Found  at  Spoleto  among 
the  Appenines.     It  is  an  inscription  in  marble.    Cult  of  the  union.  .»,iuerva. 


416  UNIONS  OF  CLOTHES  MAKERS. 

at  Spoleto ;  another,  picked  up  at  Falaria,  inscribed  with 
lette  s  so  well  preserved  that  no  hesitation  is  indulged  in 
by  the  critics  in  pronouncing  it  a  genuine  trade  union  of  the 
fullers,  as  the  word  "collegium"  appears  three  times  and 
"  sodalicium "  twice;8  both  terms  convey  the  meaning  of 
mutual  union  or  organization ;  and  as  both  these  inscriptions 
appear  to  be  of  the  era  of  the  republic,  they  are  probably 
very  old.  If,  however,  the  two  tablets  above  cited  are  not 
sufficient  as  evidence  of  the  union  of  fullers,  we  have  a  gem 
from  Pompeii  in  the  from  of  an  inscription  of  the  fullers  who 
worked  in  some  public  establishment.  These  artisans,  as 
Momm^en  observed  in  his  disquisition  on  labor  unions,  evi- 
dently shielded  themselves  from  the  severity  of  the  law  sup- 
pressing the  colleges,  by  having  recourse  to  a  certain  amount 
of  piety4  which  they  scarcely  felt  in  their  hearts.  A  society 
of  sacred  fullers  sounds  ridiculous ! 8  Yet  this  inscription 
commemorating  a  fraternity,  or  at  any  rate,  a  force  of  work- 
men fulling  cloth  for  the  use  of  the  people,  bears  pious  words 
which  would  incline  one  to  imagine  that  some  of  their  wages 
was  devoted,  like  a  collection  at  church,  towards  defraying 
the  expenses  of  the  holy  temples  instead  of  providing  for 
the  earners'  hungry  babes.  This  inscription  is  one  of  the 
many  contributions  to  ethnological  science  which  the  exhu- 
mations from  Pompeii  have  produced.  Of  course  then  no 
one  can  question  its  greater  antiquity  than  the  earthquake 
of  Vesuvius,  A.  D.  79 ;  and  it  might  have  existed  many 
hundreds  of  years  anterior  to  that  event. 

The  linen  weavers  during  the  emperors,  enjoyed  the  free 
right  of  organization,  according  to  a  provision  in  the  codex 
Theodosiif  and  we  accordingly  have  an  inscription  quoted 
in  Orel!!,7  of  the  linen  weavers,  lintearii,  found  at  Nemausum, 
by  Muratori.  But  the  stone  is  in  a  bad  condition.  It 
might  have  been  a  private  sign,  in  which  case  it  proves 
nothing  to  our  purpose.8 

The  wool  carders,  lanarii  pectinarii,  used  to  card  and 

s  Cf.  Orellius,  Inscriptionum  Latinarum  Collectio,  Nos.  4,056,  4,091,  3,291  all 
of  which  were  fullers. 

<  Moinmsen,  De  Colleyiii  et  Sodaliciis  Ronianorum,  Cap.  V.  passim 

5  Vide  Orell,  Inter.  Lat.  Coll,,  No.  3,291,  Opera  Publica.    "  Eumachise  flliii  in- 
genni  Sacred,  pnb.  Fullones."    Pompeii 

6  Cod.  Theod.,  lib.  XXX,  6.  8. 16. 

f  O  ell. ,  Inscr  Latinarum  Collectio,  No.  4,215  also  Cod.  Theod.,  lib.  X,  20, 10. 

*  For  futher  information  on  linen  weavers,  see  Granier  Histoire  des  Classes 
Owner*,  p.  310:  '  Lee  principalis  corporations  marchandes  de  1'  empire  etaient 
cui  es  des  tisseranda,  linteonet  etc." 


TEE   STATE   EMPLOYED  TRADE   UNIONS.     417 

weave  with  similar  cards  and  hand-looms  as  were  used  by 
the  colonists  of  the  United  States.  In  all  probability  the 
teasel  was  used  in  dressing  and  combing  the  cloth  the  same 
as  now;  since  no  application  of  mechanical  invention  and 
science  has  ever  superseded  the  use  of  the  teasel  in  combing 
cloth,  although  new  experiments  of  great  ingenuity  are  con- 
stantly being  made. 

The  weavers  and  carders  were  also  organized.  Of  this 
we  also  have  proof  in  the  inscriptions.  Gruter  found  at 
Brixia9  a  fragment  of  a  slab  on  which  were  engraved  a  few 
words  signifying  that  the  sodalicium  or  union  had  added 
another  emancipated  slave  to  their  numbers,  either  as  ap- 
prentice or  otherwise.  The  organization  was  one  of  wool 
carders.  The  same  author  records  several  others,  one  of 
them  discovered  in  the  village  of  Ruminel  agri  Silvaedu- 
censis.10  At  Rome  there  were  several  others  discovered.11 

Inscription  No.  2,303  of  Orelli  is  placed  by  him.  among 
Opera  publica,  public  works,  which  is  very  strong  evidence 
that  the  state  farmed  out  the  manufacture  of  wollen  goods 
to  the  unions,  who  produced  the  goods  for  the  government 
in  its  own  mills.  Did  the  Roman  state  own  woollen  mills* 
It  would  be  well  for  political  economists  to  consider  this 
important  question  before  proceeding  to  accuse  the  labor 
movement  of  this  day  of  making  demands  which  are  "  un- 
precedented "  in  the  methods  of  manufacture  and  distribu- 
tion of  the  means  of  human  life  and  comfort.  The  evidences 
which  are  coming  to  light  through  the  labors  of  archaeolog- 
ists, who  dig  up,  interpret  and  record  the  tell-tale  palgeo- 
graphs  of  an  ancient  civilization  are  accumulating  proof 
of  the  conjecture  that  once  in  Rome,  at  Athens  and  elsewhere, 
the  governments  were  owners  of  woollen  factories ;  and  that 
they  were  run  for  government  by  trade  unions,  watched, 
curtailed,  hampered  and  restricted  of  course,  by  the  jealous 
optiraate  politicians  lest  the  immense  advantages  natural  to 
such  a  method  should  conduce  to  the  liberty  and  social 
emancipation  of  the  proletaries.  The  student  of  sociology 
may  dimly  discern  some  obscure  light  from  great  writers  to 
the  effect  that  not  only  the  woollen  mills  were  counted  as 
public  works  but  also  many  other  establishments  of  a  nature 
to  supply  food,  clothing  and  shelter  to  the  population. 

»  Grater,  Intcriptionet  Totiut  Orbit  JRomanorum,  648,  2.  957,  2. 
l»  Idem,  957.  2.  n  Idem,  648,  4. 


418  UNIONS    OF    CLOTHES  MAKERS. 

/ 

When  the  linen  or  wool  was  carded,  spun,  woven  into 
cloth  and  fulled,  it  was  necessary  to  have  it  dyed.  It  is 
however  probable  that  then,  as  now,  the  goods  were  dyed 
in  the  yarn.  This  required  another  trade — that  of  dyers. 

There  was  a  class  of  dyers,  those  who  colored  the  cele- 
brated purple  hues,  who  were  especially  provided  by 
law; ia  the  blattearii.  They  enjoyed  the  free  privilege  of 
organizing  their  numbers  and  possessed  trade  unions,  be- 
ing exempt  from  the  restrictions  which  so  curtailed  and 
embarassed  some  of  the  unions  of  other  trades. 

Another  class  of  dyers  were  the  murileguli  who  fished 
for  shells  and  purple-fish  that  secreted  an  ink  used  for 
coloring  silk  and  probably  other  materials.  No  inscrip- 
tions have  been  discovered  that  we  are  aware  of  which 
describe  them,  but  frequent  mention  in  the  Roman  law 
in  connection  with  the  franchise  extended  to  some  unions, 
corroborates  the  assurance  that  they  possessed  organiza- 
tions. In  fact  their  fraternity  was  mentioned  and  pro- 
vided for  in  the  codes  both  of  Theodosus  and  of  Jus- 
tinian.13 These  workmen  colored  the  exquisite  red  and 
purple  of  the  ancient  red  banner.14 

Thus  we  have  the  cloth  ready  for  the  tailor.  The  an- 
cients wore  a  sort  of  loose  cloak  or  flowing  mantle  called 
sagum.  It  was  usually  of  long  wool  and  colored.  Tailors 
who  made  them  were  called  sayarii™  and  they  were  or- 
ganized; but  as  they  were  a  branch  of  the  tailors'  pro- 
fession there  appear  no  special  inscriptions  of  them  ex- 
cept in  the  lists  of  epitaphs.16  There  was  a  union  of  tail- 
ors provided  for  by  a  law  in  the  code  of  Theodosius,  un- 
der the  designation  given  them,  of  gynaeciarii  "  which  is 
a  warping  of  a  Greek  word  and  a  Greek  custom  into  the 
Roman  tongue.  At  Athens  the  gynaeceum  was  that  por- 
tion of  any  house  where  the  women  lived.  They  also 
worked  there  for  their  masters;  and  by  this  we  know 
they  were  often  slaves.  But  in  Rome  it  served  as  a  man- 
ufactory of  clothing  in  addition  to  being  the  harem  of 
the  lord.  Under  the  emperors  there  was  a  man  to  over- 
see this  work.18  As  the  emperor  was  the  head  of  the 

12  Cod.  Theod.,  De  Excusalionibus  Artificum,  lib.  XIII,  tit.  IV,  IPS;.  2. 

13  Cod.  JiMtimani,  IX.  7.  M  See  chapter  on  the  Ancient  Red  Flag,  infra. 
is  Cod.  Theodnsii,  lib.  X,  tit   5  leg.  12,  also  X,  20. 

16  Orellus.  Inscriptionum  Latinarum  Cotlectio,  Nos.  4,251  and  4  723.  Sepvl- 
cralia.  i"  Cod.  Theodosii,  lib,  X,  leg.  2,  3,  7  and  X.  20,  2, 

w  Cod.  Justiniani,  lib.  XI,  7,  3. 


IMPERIAL    WORKSHOPS.  419 

people  he  was  considered  the  government  and  his  palace 
like  the  residence  of  the  president  of  the  United  States, 
was  government  property ;  so  that  it  seems  to  be  a  fact 
easily  proven  that  certain  manufacturing  establishments 
were  earned  on  by  the  ancient  governments;  since  it  is 
well  known  that  the  spinners',  weavers',  dyers'  and  tail- 
ors' overseers  who  were  called  gynaeciarii,  had  shops  in 
the  emperors'  palaces  and  conducted  the  manufacture  of 
mantles,  togas  and  other  articles  of  clothing  on  quite  an 
extensive  scale  for  the  household  of  his  majesty,  includ- 
ing family  and  retinue.  These  female  clothiers  worked 
in  the  same  manner  for  others  of  the  great  gentes  or  lordly 
families.  This  prepares  us  for  a  distinct  comprehension 
of  the  desire  of  ancient  labor  to  be  organized.  It  lifted 
the  member  one  step  higher  than  the  slave  and  placed 
him  or  her  in  the  co-operative  supervision  and  care  of 
the  fraternity.  The  Roman  gynaeciarius  was  generally 
a  man  who  had  charge  of  the  workshop. 

On  account  of  a  misapprehension  of  this  word's  true 
meaning,  lexicographers  define  the  gynaeciarius  as  an 
overseer  of  a  harem !  This  is  a  cheap  way  of  degrading 
the  character  of  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of  po  r 
working  women  who  plied  the  honest  needle  wherewith 
to  eke  out  a  wretched  living.  But  it  is  the  inscriptions — 
a  late  study — which  bring  out  the  origiml  home-mean- 
ing, otherwise  lost.  Not  only  the  code  of  Theodosius 
but  that  of  Justinian  contain  well  worded  provisions  for 
the  organization  of  tailors  into  trade  unions.  This  asso- 
ciation was  taken  advantage  of  by  the  women  as  well  as 
their  chivalrous  male  companions  in  poverty  and  lowli- 
ness and  they  were  only  too  glad  to  enjoy  the  patronage 
of  their  emperors,  and  work  in  their  houses  and  those  of 
the  grandees,  under  a  foreman,  doubtless  also  a  member 
of  the  union.  The  gens  family  thus  furnished  shop,  tools 
and  stock  and  the  workers  here  performed  the  work. 
But  family  and  state  were  identical  terms. 

We  now  come  to  the  shoemakers.  If  the  reader,  in  ad- 
miring the  pictures  of  the  ancients,  will  carefully  observe 
the  apparel  in  which  their  feet  are  shod  he  will  notice 
that  the  shoe  has  the  form  of  a  sandal ;  and  that  it  is 
laced  to  the  foot  like  a  modern  half-slipper.  That  is  to 
say,  it  is  mostly  sole ;  there  being  very  little  upper-leather, 


420  UNJONS    OF   CLOTHES   MAKERS. 

especially  about  the  instep.  This  was  the  principal  art- 
icle of  foot  clothing  manufactured  by  the  ancients  for 
popular  use.  Italy,  Greece,  Spain,  Phoenicia,  North- 
ern Africa,  are  almost  semi-tropical  countries.  It  is  the 
pinching  cold  of  Central  Europe  that  has  forced  differ- 
entiation in  the  shape  of  shoes  and  boots.  The  Roman 
sandal,  solea,  was  manufactured  in  enormous  quantities 
largely,  no  dotibt,  by  slaves.  But  as  we  have  positive 
evidence  of  unions  of  shoemakers,  solearii,  we  know  that 
they  were  also  produced  by  free  labor.  The  archaeologist 
Marini,  found  at  Rome  a  beautiful  tablet 19  on  which  is 
engraved  in  unmistakable  terms  the  name  of  the  union 
and  states  that  it  was  a  collegium  sallarium  baxeantm. 
This  means  that  the  members  manufactured  one  particu- 
lar kind  of  sandal  or  shoe — the  baxea  which  was  of  a  cer- 
tain Greek  pattern.  In  the  Vatican  is  another  mentioned 
by  various  authors,20  which,  however,  does  not  so  unmis- 
takably represent  a  trade  union.  The  Crispins,  it  is  well- 
known,  were  a  very  powerful  trade  union  of  a  later  date, 
whose  members  carried  with  them  a  bigoted  species  of 
priestcraft.  But  as  their  existence  is  of  so  curious  a 
character  and  their  organization  so  secret,  we  have  failed 
to  find  any  genuine  inscriptions.  Their  identity  however 
has  come  down  to  us  in  history,  and  marks  an  era  in  the 
Christian  religion,  connecting  it  with  labor  and  practically 
verifying  its  precepts  by  its  commingling  of  the  nobility 
with  the  proletariat,  thus  leveling  all  to  one  plane. 

Diocletian  was  the  tyrant  who  persecuted  the  early 
Christians.  Under  his  reign  two  brothers — noblemen  be- 
longing to  a  gens  family — were  converted  to  religion. 
Their  names,  as  the  story  goes,  were  Crispin  and  Crispin- 
ian.  For  a  poor  slave  or  freedman  to  embrace  Christian- 
ity was  not  so  much  of  an  offense  because  he  had  no  rec- 
ognition, no  family;  but  for  a  nobleman  to  forsake  the 
worship  of  his  ancestral  manes  and  tutelary  saints,  abjure 
faith  in  the  miraculous  gods  and  goddesses  who  for  un- 
accounted ages,  by  sea  and  land  had  presided  over  tlie 
destinies  of  men  and  had  been  believed  in  with  an  iroc 
bound  confidence  and  a  terrorizing  authority  that  left  not 
a  shimmering  of  option  wherein  to  plant  an  independent 

"Marini,  AUi,I,  p.  12 

20  See  Orelli,  ItiKriptivnum  Latinarum  Colkctio,  No.  4,213.    Artes  et  opiflcia. 


THE  FIRST  CRISPINS.  421 

thought — such  an  offender  was  thought  to  deserve  the 
punishment  of  death !  These  Crispins,  therefore,  having 
thus  offended  by  embracing  the  new  faith,  were  obliged 
to  fly  to  Gaul,  where,  according  to  vague  tradition,  they 
settled  at  Soissons,  preaching  by  day  and  shoemaking 
evenings,  until  in  A.  D.  287,  they  were  executed  by  order 
of  Maximian.  They  had  first  founded  the  order  of  Cris- 
pins which  exists  to  this  day.  Many  centuries  afterwards, 
1645,  Crispins  were  chosen  as  the  patron  saints  of  a  re- 
ligio-indus trial  community  at  Paris — a  secret  order  called 
the  freres  cordonniers — brother  shoemakers.  This  secret 
order  has  had  a  varied  experience.  It  was  suppressed 
several  times  but  grew  again ;  and  to-day  the  order  of 
Crispins  exists  in  the  United  States,  and  many  other 
countries  of  the  world,  as  a  regular  and  genuine  trade 
union  of  shoemakers. 

There  was  also  a  union  of  soldiers'  boot  makers,  caligarii, 
spoken  of  by  Lampridins."  The  archaeologist  Gruter11 
brought  to  light  an  inscription  which  may  serve  as  proof. 
It  commemorates  the  existence  of  a  family  of  shoemakers 
who  made  such  shoes,  sutores  caligarii,  but  is  too  brief,  or 
at  least  the  section  of  it  which  we  have  seen  is  too  incom- 
plete for  a  specimen  to  fix  judgment  upon.  Another  stone 
from  Auximum  is  more  elaborate  but  rendered  vague  by 
the  endless  abbreviations  which  the  Latins  seem  to  have 
been  so  fond  of.** 

Mommsen  gives  a  long  account  of  the  Roman  manner 
of  dividing  the  unions  into  decurians,  centurians2*  and  other 
numbers,  somewhat  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  king  Nuina, 
more  than  600  years  before  Christ.  This  inscription  alluded 
to  refers  to  the  centurians,  and  the  division  to  which  the 
union  was  allotted.  Of  the  ordinary  shoemakers,  sutores^ 
we  do  not  find  any  inscriptions  proving  that  they  possessed 
trade  organizations.  Perhaps  they  were  all  slaves,  as  was 
the  case  with  some  trades.  There  are  hopes,  however,  that 
more  inscriptions  may  yet  be  discovered  to  prove  that  the 
sutores  had  their  organization. 

In  Rome,  as  at  the  present  time,  it  was  fashionable  to 
wear  furs ;  and  we  also  know  that  the  furriers  were  organ- 

n  Lampridiua,  Alexander  Severut,  33. 

M  Gruter,  Iwcriptiones  Totius  Orbis  Romanornm,  649,  1. 

»  Orell. ,  Inter.  Lat.  Coll.,  No.  3,888. 

a<  Momm  ,  De  Coll.  et  Sodal.  Rom.,  Cap.  II,  p  27-32. 


422  UNIONS    OF  CLOTHES  MAKERS. 

ized  into  trade  unions.  The  furriers  were  called  pelliones. 
They  were  classed  as  innocent,  and  allowed  the  privilege  of 
combination  by  a  special  clause  in  the  code  of  Theodosius26 
and  had  numerous  unions  of  the  trade.  Among  other 
branches  of  the  furriers  were  the  fringe  and  border  makers, 
limbolarii™  who  trimmed  ladies'  dresses  with  furs  or  costly 
silk  or  laces.  The  limbolarii  or  fringers  were  connected 
with  the  ladies'  head  dressers  on  the  one  hand  and  textores 
and  textrices,  male  and  female  weavers  on  the  other.  That 
they  worked  in  the  head  dress  or  hat  business  is  certain; 
but  we  are  in  the  dark  about  the  method  and  personnel  of 
the  hat  manufacture  for  either  sex. 

A  very  remarkable  and  numerous  trade  pinion  called  cen- 
tonarii,  patchworkers  and  junkmen  or  ragpickers,  crops  out 
everywhere  among  the  inscriptions.  Near  the  ancient  towu 
of  Come  in  Curia,  Gruter27  observed  many  queer  inscrip- 
tions, among  which  are  several  which  clearly  indicate  that 
at  this  municipium  of  Rome  the  rag  pickers  were  numer- 
ous enough  to  get  elected  into  the  municipal  offices.  In- 
deed this  is  his  own  comment  upon  the  matter.  There  is 
no  ground  for  doubt  about  their  being  genuine  trade  unions,, 
as  the  wording  of  the  stone  distinctly  pays:  "  collegium  cen- 
tonariorum."  At  Milan,  the  same  great  pioneer  of  the  re- 
naissance dragged  forth  another  of  these  long  forgotten 
witnesses  of  the  ancient  mode  of  living,  to  shed  its  light 
upon  social  science.28  This  led  to  further  investigation,  and 
Fabretti 2*  from  the  same  field  brought  out  two  other  tab- 
lets of  cmtonarii  bearing  equally  good  testimony.  The 
centuriau  legion  is  mentioned  upon  one  of  them,  and  by  this 
we  are  apprised  of  the  fact  that  the  law  dividing  the  unions 
into  tens,  hundreds,  etc.,  held  good  as  far  away  as  Milan 
in  the  extreme  north  of  Italy. 

Another,  found  at  the  ancient  Mevaniola,  is  quoted  by 
Orelli.30  It  is  a  slab  of  stone  on  which  is  inscribed  the  name 
of  the  president  of  the  association.  It  is  quite  evident  that 
these  institutions  had  something  to  do  with  manufacture  of 
rough  articles  of  clothing  if  not  also  of  any  and  everything 
they  could  pick  up  the  makings  for.  If  among  all  their  col- 

*  Code  Ttieod.,  lib.  XIII.  tit.  iv,  leg.  2,  De  Excusationibiu  Artifioim. 

*  Orell.,  Inter.,  No.  4,213. 

*>  Gruter,  Inscr.  Totius  Orbis  Romanorum,  Xos.  471.  5,  358.  6  and  others. 

*8  Gruter,  Jnscr.  Totius  Orbis  Rom.,  477,  1. 

«•  Kabrett,  Explicaiio.  p.  73,  72. 

*>  Orell.,  Iiiscr.,  >io.  5,122,  Collegium  ccntonarirum  Mun;cipii  Mevaniolto. 


RAGPICKERS  AND  P1ECE-PATCHERS.         423 

lections  of  rags  picked  up  in  the  streets  or  obtained  by  beg- 
gary or  otherwise  in  their  wanderings  by  day,  they  found 
in  their  culling  and  sorting,  material  of  mixed  colors  and 
qualities  sufficient  to  make  a  coat,  no  matter  how  versicol- 
ored and  bizarre  it  looked  when  finished,  they  set  about 
cutting,  patching  and  putting  together  the  pieces,  and  of 
them  creating  a  garment  readily  disposed  of  among  the 
poor  slaves  and  outcasts  whose  wretched  lot  it  was  often  to 
work  in  sun  and  storm,  heat  and  cold,  without  clothing,  as 
naked  as  the  gladiators  who  fought  on  the  sands  of  the  am- 
phitheatres. 

The  immense  number  of  inscriptions  bearing  record  of 
these  facts,  affords  proof  of  the  formidable  misery  which 
poor  despised  humanity  were  obliged  to  suffer  in  ancient 
days.  In  proof  of  the  position  above  stated,  we  have  from 
Regium  in  Cisalpine  Gaul  a  splendid  stone  containing 
over  100  words  showing  that  the  membership  was  allied  to 
manufacturers,  but  of  what  sort  is  not  given;  that  they  had 
a  temple  of  some  kind  of  their  own;  and  that  they  took  an 
active  part  in  public  affairs  by  force  of  their  organ ized  num- 
bers.31 

We  are  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  whoever  investigates 
the  subject  of  the  ancient  ragpickers  from  the  numerous 
and  unmistakable  data  already  at  command,  will  arrive  at 
our  conclusion  that  they  were  a  sort  of  social  jack-at-all- 
trades,  undertaking  in  poverty,  with  limited  means,  and  un- 
der many  checks  of  social  humiliation  and  contempt,  any  job 
that  fell  in  their  way  by  which  they  could  make  a  living. 
Muratori  exhibits  in  his  enormous  folio  collection  Nos.  563 
2  and  564  1,  of  his  Thesaurus™  two  others,  found  at  the 
town  of  Sentinum,  a  place  in  ancient  Umbria,  which,  on  the 
Tvhole,  adds  little  to  the  points  already  given. 

In  the  Neapolitan  museum  is,  or  was  a  collection  of  bronze 
statues,  statuettes,  plaques  and  tablets,  all  conveying 
thoughts  valuable  to  the  study  of  ethnology — the  Heraclian 
or  Herculanean  museum.  Stored  there  is  another  interest- 
ing tablet  of  these  centonarii  or  ragpickers.  It  was  found 
by  Fabretti,  direcily  or  indirectly,  at  Patavium.83  Accord- 
ing to  Heineck  it  is  very  old.34  Another  from  the  ager  Co- 

81  Orel!..  No.  4,133;  Grntcr.  1,101,  1  and  Murator,  663,  1. 
32  Vide  Orell.,  4,134:  "Similia  decreia,  nee  minus  verbosa,  adulattonigque 
plena  '' 

»  Fabretti.  EzplivMo,  p.  485,  160.  «  Beinec,  Antiqu,  p.  286. 


424  CLOTHES  MAKERS. 

mensis,  classed  by  Orelli,  among  the  societies  of  artisans  is 
equally  suggestive.*5  It  is  ascribed  to  Muratori,  and  is  from 
Torcellum.  Mommsen's  great  collection  36  contains  another 
stone  bearing  an  inscription  of  art  ^Jsernian  rag  pickers'  or- 
ganization and  Orelli  gives  a  very  fine  specimen  from 
Brixia,  wm'ch  he  arranges  with  his  collegia,  corpora  et  so- 
dalicia."  One  that  Orelli  mixed  up  with  his  Dii  Immor- 
tales  seems  to  commemorate  one  of  those  unions,  combining 
several  kinds  of  labor  under  one  set  of  rules.*8  When  the 
monument  was  lettered  the  union  had  already  existed  151 
years.  It  is  at  Milan. 

These  things  show  how  dear  the  union  was  to  freedmen. 
We  have  already  cited  twelve  of  the  evidences  of  a  power- 
ful organization  of  freedmen  on  Roman  soil.  There  are 
over  40  more  good  specimens  in  the  museums  and  other 
collections,  and  their  record  is  made  good  for  all  time  in  the 
voluminous  catalogues  of  Archaeologists.  The  great  num- 
ber of  inscriptions  of  the  centonarii,  or  rag  and  old  junk 
gatherers,  in  comparison  with  most  other  organized  trades 
may  be  accounted  for  if  we  reflect  that  very  many  of  the 
ancient  lowly  obtained  their  manumission  late  in  life,  after 
they  had  been  worn  out  in  toil,  whose  products  had  gone 
to  their  masters. 

Manumissions  were  easily  obtained  at  an  advanced  age 
because  the  owner  of  a  man  would  be  glad  to  free  himself 
from  the  expense  of  maintaining  him  after  he  became  old, 
decrepit  and  useless.  Doubtless  the  owner  often  killed  his 
ultra-aged  slaves  rather  than  accord  them  the  boon  called 
liberty  to  die  in  possession  of.  But  we  may  be  sure  that 
such  was  ever  the  longing  for  freedom  when  offered  the 
slave  under  whatsoever  motive  that  he  seldom  refused  to 
accept  the  gift,  though  its  acceptance  entailed  r.1!  the  anxi- 
eties and  dangers  of  the  precarious  competitive  struggle  tor 
existence.  Assuming  at  an  advanced  age  the  responsibili- 
ties of  life,  he  drifted  into  any  labor,  no  matter  how  grovel- 
ling, and  became  the  junk-man,  rag-picker  and  patch-piecer; 
and  with  the  mutual  aid  of  his  union  succeeded  in  living 
happier  in  responsible  independence  than  he  was  before  in 
his  irresponsible  thraldom. 

A  second  reason  for  their  large  numbers  may  be,  that 

»s  Orell.,  Inscr.,  No.  4070 :  Mar.  Theasaur,  513.  3.    8ee  also  Orell.,  No.  4071, 
tt  Momm.,  Inter.,  No.  5,060.  «  Orell.,  Inscr.,  No.  7,201. 

»  Orel!..  Inter.,  No.  1102. 


ANCIENT   GYPSIES.  425 

many  times  no  work  could  be  found;  consequently  to  ob- 
tain enough  to  live  upon  they  took  to  picking  what  others 
threw  away  and  found  that  by  scouring  the  streets  and 
alleys  they  could  bring  to  their  rag  and  junk  markets  suffi- 
cient to  relieve  the  pinch  of  hunger,  and  with  the  otherwise 
unusable  stuff,  make  fires  to  cook  their  food  and  warm 
themselves  in  winter. 

The  fact  that  these  centonarii  are  found  to  have  existed 
not  only  in  Europe  but  throughout  Asia,  is  a  matter  deeply 
suggestive  to  the  student  of  ethnology.  That  they  bad  al- 
ready had  their  bands,  and  their  bodies  or  corpores  at  the 
dawn  of  manumission  from  this  primeval  state  of  slavery 
there  seems  little  doubt.  The  inscription  that  we  cite  from 
Orelli's  catalogue**  shows  by  its  own  words — the  identical 
ones  engraved  in  antiquity  upon  a  piece  of  stone — that  the 
onion  had  existed  de  facto  already  151  years.  Further 
light  is  suggestively  shed  here,  to  the  effect  that  the  union 
had  been  able,  traditionally  or  otherwise,  to  count  the  years 
of  its  age  with  precision. 

These  seemingly  phenomenal  things  are  cleared  up  when 
we  come  to  discover  that  when  the  great  wave  of  political 
antagonism  to  the  growth  and  influence  of  organized  labor 
struck  backward  and  overwhelmed  the  unions  which,  as  we 
have  clearly  shown  by  the  inscription  from  the  ruins  of 
Pompeii,  were  able  in  some  municipalities  to  elect  their  own 
superintendents  of  public  works,  a  few  were  excepted  with 
the  proviso  that  they  should  keep  themselves  piously  sub- 
ject to  the  rules  of  the  ancient  religion,  should  fear  and 
honor  the  lares  of  the  gentile  immortals  and  preserve  their 
identity  and  their  habitat  by  an  inscription  or  register  of 
each  union  in  perfect  accordance  with  the  law.  Provided 
•with  this  inscription  whereon  was  registered  their  habitat, 
the  name  of  the  deity  they  had  chosen  as  their  tutelary 
guardian,  and  the  business  which  they  professed  as  a  means 
of  existence,  the  law  accorded  them  the  right  to  organize, 
jits  coeundi.  But  these  regulations  they  must  strictly  ob- 
serve; because  they  made  it  very  convenient  for  the  police 
whose  duty  it  was  to  watch  over  them  and  report  their  be- 
havior to  senate  and  tribunes  of  the  people. 

Under  the  more  ancient  jits  coeundi  or  right  of  combina- 

«•  Orell.,  Inter.,  No.  1702,  note  2  of  explanation:  "  Collegii  supra  script!  anni 
*61,  ex  quo  collegium  isthoc  conslitutum  fuerat." 


426  UNIONS  OF   CLOTHES  MAKERS. 

tion  into  unions  of  trades  and  professions,  it  certainly,  as 
proved  by  many  inscriptions  of  the  period  of  the  emperors 
of  Rome,  could  not  have  been  obligatory  that  the  unions 
should  chisel  out  these  lithoglyphs,  so  precious  to  us  now. 
So  when  the  law  came,  some  of  them  searched  back  for 
their  chronology  and  pedigree  and  had  them  inserted  with 
the  rest  of  the  inscription.  We  know  from  abundant  evi- 
dence that  the  oldest  societies  stood  the  best  chance  of  es- 
caping suppression.  They  were  especially  exempted  by 
law.  This  exemption  was  based  upon  the  respect  for  the 
laws  and  traditions  of  Numa,  Solon  and  Tullius.  The  new 
societies,  however,  were  looked  upon  with  distrust;  and  it 
logically  follows  that  if  a,  collegium,  corpus  or  sodalicium 
could  prove  its  age  by  tracing  its  record  back  to  a  time  an- 
terior to  the  agrarian  or  servile  troubles,  it  would  have  an 
almost  certain  chance  of  remaining  unmolested. 

We  have  enlarged  upon  this  curious  subject  of  the  rag 
pickers  with  a  view  of  preparing  the  mind  of  the  reader 
with  facts  in  regard  to  our  theory — which  we  will  admit  to 
be  original  and  unique — upon  the  origin  of  gypsies. 

It  is  admitted  that  history  has  failed  to  record  the  origin, 
life  and  migrations  of  the  gypsies.  Of  course  everybody 
agrees  both  that  they  are  a  caste  and  that  they  are,  so  to 
speak,  the  pariah  dogs  of  these  later  days ;  but  everybody, 
upon  reflection,  also  admits  that  they  always  were  and  still 
are  organized.  The  fact  is,  their  organization  has  always 
been  exclusive  and  severe.  Another  fact  always  was  and 
is,  namely,  that  their  language  is  Latin  although  mixed  with 
Sanscrit  and  Greek ;  and  this  is  the  most  incontrovertible 
stronghold  to  our  suggestion  that  gypies  are  the  slill  linger- 
ing, self-constituted,  tribal  relics  of  the  archaic  children  of 
the  great  gens  families  of  the  Aryan  race,  both  Asiatic  and 
Indo-European. 

We  suggest  that  being  outcasts  of  the  domus  or  paternal 
home  through  the  law  of  primogeniture,  they  served  for 
unknown  ages  as  slaves  on  the  paiernal  estate ;  and  at  the 
dawn  of  the  period  of  manumissions  were  among  the  first 
to  form  self-supporting,  or  mutually  protective  unions  out 
of  which  the  least  qualified,  most  cunning  and  romantic 
never  developed,  but  continued  to  pick  up  a  living  by  petty 
theft,  rag,  junk  and  slop-gathering,  horse-jockeying  and 
piece-patching,  warping  their  tongues  to  fit  localities,  and 


ORIGIN   OF  THE  GYPSIES.  427 

their  ingenuity  to  all  the  cunning  quibbles  which  character- 
ize the  competitive  system.  These  we  conjecture  were  the 
centonarii  or  rag  pickers,  whose  compulsory  inscriptions  we 
study  with  wondering  surprise,  They  are  simply  the  fruit 
of  the  cruel  condition  of  ancient  society  ;  and  the  unique 
monument  their  name  and  shame  have  built  must  arrest  the 
gaze  of  man,  imparting  to  him  a  mournful  lesson  as  he  toils 
onward  to  the  revolution. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

TRADE  UNIONS. 

THE  PAGAN  AND  CHRISTIAN  IMAGE-MAKERS. 

ORGANIZATIONS  OF  PEOPLE  who  worked  for  the  Gods — Big  and  little 
God-Smiths — Their  Unions  object  to  the  New  Religion  of 
Christianity  because  this,  originally  Repudiating  Idolatry, 
Ruined  their  Business — Compromise  which  Originated  the 
Idolatry  in  the  Church  of  to-day — The  Cabatores — Unions 
of  Ivory  Workers — Of  Sisellarii  or  Deity-Sedan-Makers — Of 
Image-makers  in  Plaster — The  Unguen tarii  or  Unions  of  Per- 
fumemakers — Holy  Ointments  and  the  Unions  that  manu- 
factured them — Etruscan  Trinketmakers — Bookbinders — 
No  Proof  yet  found  of  their  Organization. 

DIRECTLY  connected  with  and  a  component  part  of  the 
ancient  state,  particularly  that  of  the  Indo-Europeans, 
was  the  great  subject  of  the  gods,  deorum  immortalium. 
This  with  them  was  no  wild  fancy  but  an  institution  so 
closely  interwoven  in  all  the  affairs  of  public  and  private 
life  that  no  person  of  patrician  birth  who  could  lay  claim 
to  a  family '  could  possibly,  without  heresy  often  punish- 
able with  death,  disregard  or  question.  The  worship  of 
the  manes  at  the  domestic  altar,  and  of  the  penates,  the 
mysterious  home  of  the  lares  and  all  the  holy  immortals 
was  compulsory.  All  paganism  was  excessively,  tyranni- 
cally, inexorably,  cruelly,  religious.  It  ignored  the  whole 
proletarian  class;  and  most  logically,  according  to  its 
tenets;  for  they,  possessing  no  family,  no  property,  no 
paternity,  could  have  no  tutelary  saint  except  by  proxy 
and  in  an  eleemosynary  way,  used  by  them  superficially 

i  The  proletaries  or  working  people  had  no  recognized  family.  To  be  born 
into  *n  ancient  family  was  to  belong  to  a  great  and  noble  gens. 


AN  INDUSTRY  IN  HOLT  FURNITURE.         429 

to  flatter  conscience,*  and  in  all  cases  borrowed  by  them 
from  the  grandees,  who  sometimes  permitted  the  loan  of 
a  family  god3  to  act  the  sham  of  tutelary  protector,  and 
this  sometimes  out  of  mere  contemptuous  pity.  But  this 
archaic,  aristocratic  worship  was  in  practice  mechanical. 
Its  temples,  the  work  of  the  proletaries,  were  massive, 
often  magnificent  structures.  Idols  were  numerous,  some 
of  them  specimens  of  the  finest  sculptures  the  world  ever 
produced.  Its  altars  were  solemn,  massive  and  awful ; 
its  sepulchres,  sarcophagi  and  mausoleums,  striking  in 
the  solemnity  of  their  incidents  and  surroundings ;  its 
little  images  and  deities  were  visitants  of  every  respecta- 
ble household ;  its  sacerdotal  and  sacrificial  paraphernalia 
numerous  and  indispensable  and  the  oracles  and  shrines 
of  the  aruspex  and  soothsayer  had  each  to  be  adorned 
with  furniture  which  best  convenienced  the  cunning,  flat- 
tery, superstition  and  makeshift  of  priestcraft. 

All  these  things  required  tools  to  make  them  and  were 
the  product  of  skill  and  industry  of  the  proletaries.  Great 
numbers  of  these  emblems  of  Pagan  piety  are  preserved 
in  the  collections ;  and  by  them  we  know  how  to  appreci- 
ate the  methods  of  mechanics  who  produced  them. 

The  cabatores  had  a  union  that  made  images  of  the 
greater  gods.  By  this  is  probably  to  be  understood,  the 
most  powerful  immortals,  Jupiter,  Ceres,  Vulcan  and  the 
like.  They  had  their  shops  in  Kome  and  Athens.  If 
they  were  numerous  we  are  without  evidence  of  the  fact ; 
although  their  skill  covered  a  considerable  range.  The 
cabator  and  the  imaginifex  made  images  of  many  kinds 
but  the  manner  of  their  operations  is  obscure.  We  know 
more  of  their  extent.  The  business  of  the  former  was  to 
make  the  less  elegant  statues,  relief?,  and  perhaps  pic- 
tures of  the  great  deities;  while  the  latter  busied  himself 
with  the  manufacture  of  the  household  and  toy  gods  for 
which  there  was  always  a  steady  demand.  In  this  man- 
ufacture of  deities  there  was  from  the  most  ancient  epoch 
of  which  we  have  data,  enough  demand  to  keep  large 

*  Fustel,  Cite  Antique,  livre  II,  passim. 

8  Mommsen,  De  CoUegiis  et  SodaliciU  Romanorum,  p.  36:  "Legibns  collegii 
Dianna  et  Antinoi  et  collejdi  -Esculapii  et  Hygiaa  "  Note  W,  Idem,  p.  78.  "  In 
farnilia  Augustali  multa  collegia  opficum  fuisse."  Idem,  p.  10,  De  Oultu  Minerva 
"  Nantes  quidem  accepit  simulacrum,  .  .  .  Nautiorum  iamilia  (sacra  Miaervee 
retinebat." 


430  IMA  G  E -MAKERS. 

numbers  of  mechanics  employed.  It  grew  with  the  num- 
bers of  the  human  race,  and  increased  as  human  taste  for 
luxury  increased.  Belief  did  not  perceptibly  change. 
Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  even  Anaxagoras  and  Diogenes 
worshiped  the  immortal  gods  whose  emblems,  statuettes, 
and  profiles  adorned  not  only  the  temp]es  but  the  resi- 
dences of  all  respectable  citizens.  Such  images,  liable  to 
accident  and  decay,  had  to  be  replenished  or  repaired,  and 
the  labor  required  to  do  this  gave  the  incentive  of  organ- 
ization. 

We  shall  show  in  another  chapter,  that  on  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Christian  faith  at  Rome  in  after  years,  one 
of  the  objections  most  vigorously  raised  against  the  new 
doctrine  was,  not  that  it  would  interfere  with  them  in 
point  of  conscience,  but  that  it  would  interfere  adversely 
to  their  means  of  earning  bread !  It  threatened  to  sap  the 
fountain  of  economic  existence.  The  early  Christians 
wanted  no  idols.  The  image-makers  who  wrought  holy 
emblems  out  of  wood,  brass,  gold,  pearl  and  sometimes 
of  amber  and  the  precious  gems,  gained  a  living  by  their 
trade ;  and  consequently,  Christianity,  however  it  might 
otherwise  please  their  sense  of  mutual  love,  of  equality, 
fraternity  and  freedom,  yet  so  long  as  it  threatened  their 
means  of  livelihood,  in  the  slightest  degree  they  opposed 
it  with  every  effort  within  their  reach;  whereupon  a  share 
of  the  Pagan  idolatry  was  bargained  for,  sufficient  to  re- 
store the  manufacture  of  images  and  idols.  Then  working 
people,  always  prone  to  accept,  threw  away  their  objec- 
tions and  embraced  the  new  religion  in  such  numbers 
and  with  such  zeal  that  the  old  religion  began  to  dissolve, 
and  in  course  of  a  few  centuries  crumbled  to  the  dust, 
while  the  workman's  craft  of  image-making  continues  to 
this  day. 

Of  the  most  celebrated  idol  manufacturers,  Phidias, 
perhaps  stands  foremost.  Like  all  proletaries  his  fam- 
ily is  unknown.  No  blooded  historian  could  taint  the 
noble  prestige  with  a  line  enlightening  mankind  upon  his 
pedigree ;  and  writers  of  his  own  class,  there  were  none. 
His  superlative  genius,  however,  wrote  his  history  in  the 
exquisite  images  of  Athena,  in  the  great  works  on  the 
Propylsea  of  the  acropolis  and  the  Parthenon,  wrought 
by  his  combined  imagination  and  chisel.  Ivory  and  gold 


GENIUS  IN  SHRINE  MANUFACTURE.          431 

entered  into  this  last  chryselephantine  colossus;  and  his 
adornment  of  Olympia  with  the  statue  of  Jupiter  as  a  vir- 
gin goddess  signalized  his  age  by  an  exhibit  of  the  me- 
chanical in  the  most  exquisite  and  costly  details.  Pericles 
the  renowned  optimate  and  politician,  stood  in  astonish- 
ment and  admiration  before  this  workingmau's  genius  and 
originality. 

Myron,  the  cotemporary  and  celebrated  rival  of  Phidias, 
could  sculpture  a  quoit-player,  a  cow  or  a  god  with  equal 
perfection.  His  Hercules,  his  Jupiter  and  his  Minerva 
were  so  perfect  that  Roman  warriors  in  capturing  them 
were  captured  by  them.  When,  afterwards,  Lysippus, 
Praxiteles,  Scopas  and  a  great  many  others  adorned  this 
art  with  perfection  it  never  had  before  or  since,  it  became 
a  trade  at  which  many  thousands  earned  a  living, 

Great  schools  of  image-making  flourished  in  Greece  and 
Rome  from  times  long  anterior  to  Phidias.  The  Etrus- 
cans had  schools  of  idol  manufacture  conducted,  as  in 
Greece,  by  the  proletaries  or  working  people.  Once 
when  the  Romans  beat  them  in  battle  and  at  the  siege 
took  Yolsinii  nearly  300  years  before  Christ,  about  2,000 
holy  images  and  statues  were  a  part  of  the  trophies  of  vic- 
tory. The  Etruscans  were  hard  working,  faithful  people 
who  had  trade  unions  in  great  numbers.  Some  of  these 
were  image-makers;  and  they  well  knew  how  to  live  and 
profit  upon  the  superstitions  which  thus  attached  to  the 
Pagan  faith. 

While  Rome  produced  few  image-makers  of  brilliancy 
she  patronized  enormously  the  manufacture  of  all  sorts 
of  holy  trinkets.  The  household  from  the  earliest  times 
was  the  true  patron,  and  ladies  bought  many  little  imita- 
tions of  gods  and  goddesses  together  with  an  endless 
variety  of  sacerdotal  paraphernalia,  such  as  suited  their 
fancy  as  to  merit  and  price. 

Orelli  gives  us  an  inscription  of  a  genuine  union  of  the 
bisellarii,  who  manufactured  the  great  sacerdotal  seat  or 
chair;  a  splendidly  finished  and  richly  upholstered  tete 
a  tete  for  the  gods.*  There  were  also  signs  either  of 
unions  or  private  business  of  persons  working  ivory,  ebu- 


*  Inscriptianum  Latinantm  Collectio,  No.  4,137,  note  1,  also  Grnter,  - 

tionnm.  Totius  Orbit  Rom.anoru.rn,  12,  8,  and  Muratori,  Tfiesaitru*  Vctenrm  Y/wcriiK 
tionum,  644,  1. 


432  IMA  G  E-  MA  KERS. 

ram.  The  inscriptions  are  given  by  Orelli.*  But  we  have 
more  positive  evidence  of  a  trade  union  of  ivory  workers 
in  a  direct  mention  of  them  as  such  in  the  Justinian  code 
which  provided  for  them  the  right  to  organize  and  labor 
in  the  holy  cause.6 

The  evidences  indicate  that  the  tectoriolae  or  little  plaster 
images  of  which  Cicero 7  and  others  have  made  mention, 
were  the  work  of  the  albarii.*  An  inscription  found  at 
Rome  and  published  by  Gruter,9  appeal's  to  signify  by  its 
reading  that  the  business  was  managed  by  one  C.  Ateius 
Philadelphus  but  gives  no  clue  to  warrant  that  he  was 
managing  officer  of  a  trade  union  of  the  plasterers'  craft. 

Besides  the  wonderful  chryselphantine  ivory  workers 
belonging  to  the  great  school  of  Phidias,  already  men- 
tioned, there  were  the  eburarii,  who,  as  we  have  already 
stated,  were  fortified  by  a  law  in  the  code  of  Justinian, 
and  were  excepted  in  the  late  statutes  on  trade  unions.10 
These  craftsmen  made  little  statuettes,  symbols,  ivory 
chains,  variously  shaped  charms  and  talismans  propitiatory 
of  the  gods.  They  for  this  purpose  carried  on  a  consid- 
erable trade  with  the  Africans  and  Phoenicians  whereby 
to  obtain  pure  and  delicate  ivory.  Indeed,  the  supersti- 
tion inculcated  by  the  ancient  religion  led  to  a  veritable 
industry  which  through  many  a  long  century  furnished 
bread  to  these  mechanics  and  their  families. 

Orelli,11  gives  an  inscription  of  an  association  or  genu- 
ine trade  union  of  the  gods'  bed  makers,  or  pulvinarii.™ 
They  were  organized  under  the  society  name  of  sodalicium 
which  Cicero  characterized  as  low  and  mean;  but  we  pre- 
sume that  as  in  this  case  their  calling  was  to  manufacture 
the  elegantly  upholstered  couches  and  silk  embroidered 
sleeping  furniture  of  the  mighty  immortals,  the  piety  and 
solemnity  which  enveloped  their  workshops  rescued  them 
from  the  rigors  of  the  conspiracy  laws  which  Cicero  and 

•  Orell. ,  idem,  Nos.  4,180  and  4,309. 
«  Cod.,  Justiniani,  y,  64,  1. 

'  Cic.,  Fan.,  9,  22,  3. 

*  Tertulian,  Dr.  Idolalatria,  cap.  viii.    This  author,  however,  admits  that  be- 
sides images  placed  In  the  walls,  the  albarii  did  several  other  kinds  of  plaster 
work. 

»  Gruter,  Infer.  Tot.  Orb.,  642, 11. 
W  Orell.,  Nos.  4.180.  4:302. 

11  InscripUonum  Lritinarum  Cottectio,  No.  4.061. 

i J  We  say  "  genuine  "  in  cases  where  we  find  full  approval  as  to  their  sen- 
ninenegs.  Orelli,  Fabretti.  Muratorius,  etc.,  are  high  authority 


ROME'S  VOLUPTUOUS  HOUSE  OF  LORDS.    433 

Caesar  instituted  for  their  extinction.  Another  inscrip- 
tion was  registered  by  Oderic,  of  these  couch  makers.1* 
It  says  that  one  Julius  Epaphra  was  a  fruit  seller,  form- 
erly pulvinarius  who  worked  at  the  couch  makers'  trade 
furnishing  them  for  the  great  circus;  and  Orelli  cites 
Suetonius  to  show  that  such  seats  or  couches  were  com- 
mon at  the  games  although  their  usurpation  by  the  gran- 
dees did  not  please.14 

We  close  our  section  on  the  image-makers  with  the  un- 
guentarii  or  perfumers.  The  reader  by  this  time  begins 
to  see  that  in  reality  all  these  fine  things  "  fit  for  the 
gods,"  which  were  manufactured  by  the  unions  in  such 
quantities,  were  appropriated  and  used  by  the  rich  who 
in  thus  usurping  or  assuming  what  was  destined  for  im- 
mortals, substituted  themselves  therefor;  and  in  that  way 
threw  a  halo  of  glory  around  themselves  and  their  great, 
inapproachable  gens  families.  The  whole  of  it  was  a  sort 
of  self-deification,  using  political  priestcraft  to  puff  their 
vanity,  inflame  their  egoism,  and  widen  the  chasm  which 
forbiddingly  yawned  between  them  and  the  proletarian 
classes. 

These  fine  things,  so  pleasing  to  the  sense  of  feeling 
and  vision  were  not  enough.  They  also  required  some- 
thing to  gratify  the  olfactory  sense;  and  perfumes  of  the 
richest  kind  were  manufactured  for  them.  There  were 
unions  in  considerable  numbers  who  did  this  work.  At 
Capua  before  and  during  the  servile  war  of  Spartacus, 
there  were  perfumery  factories  which  were  celebrated 
all  over  Italy.  The  perfumers  can  scarcely  be  called 
image-makers,  but  their  art  completed  the  category  of 
delicacies  and  amplified  the  means  of  satisfying  the  vo- 
luptuous cravings  of  the  enormously  wealthy.  Their  per- 
fumes were  used  in  the  temples,  and  at  the  sacrifices. 
They  were  esteemed  at  feasts  and  were  used  in  dress. 
At  the  great  circus,  and  afterwards  the  colliseum,  the  re- 
served seats  of  the  grandees  were  known  by  their  aroma. 

The  perfumers  were  not  only  workers  but  also  mer- 
chants ;  and  necessarily,  because  they  had  to  carry  on  a 
considerable  traffic  with  the  east  and  south  to  obtain 

i'  Oderic,  Inscriptiones,  p.  74. 

14  "  spectare  cum  circenaes  ex  pnlvinari  non  placet  nobis.''  Suetonius, 
Claudius,  4. 


434  IMAGE-MAKERS. 

gums,  spices,  nuts,  seeds  and  other  raw  material  for  their 
products.  The  perfumers  or  unguentarii  also  had  similar 
unions  in  Athens  and  Corinth  where  they  carried  on 
a  considerable  business.  There  are  found  quite  a  num- 
ber of  inscriptions  of  different  kinds  of  these  workmen 
and  their  societies.  One  archaeologist  cites  an  inscription 
found  in  Rome,  upon  which  there  has  been  some  com- 
ment  made,  arising  from  a  disagreement  about  its  exact 
meaning.15  Publicius  JXicanor,  was  a  perfumer  on  the 
Via  Sacra,  and  one  Maximus  Accensus,  was  one  of  the 
members  of  the  union  whose  duty  was  to  do  up  the 
goods.  Most  probably  it  was  a  union  of  perfumers  chart- 
ered under  the  names  of  two  foremen,  or  one  foreman 
and  one  director  as  was  customary  in  order  to  comply 
with  the  law.  Marini16  cites  another  inscription  showing 
that  these  prominent  officers  were  females,  or  at  least  one 
of  them.  The  slab  was  found  in  Naples.  Orelli "  has  an 
inscription  found  by  Gruter  at  Venusia  in  Lucania,  which 
celebrates  the  setting  free  of  a  bondsman  and  family ,  by 
the  father,  out  of  the  money  obtained  as  proceeds  of  the 
perfumery  business.  His  name  was  Philargyrus,  a  per- 
fumer. This  was  probably  a  private  business  of  the  Au- 
gustine period.  The  marble  is  broken  here,  leaving  us 
with  this  conjecture. 

All  the  image-makers  and  perfumers'  trades  were 
countenanced  and  provided  for  by  King  Numa  who  be- 
lieved that  religion  was  a  thing  most  proper  to  cultivate. 
He  further  believed  that  it  was  impious  to  wage  war;  or 
at  any  rate,  to  risk  the  chances  of  war  lest  the  sacred 
temples  and  alters  be  desecrated  by  its  ravages.  Thus 
from  a  high  antiquity,  and  largely  out  of  respect  to  the 
memory  and  works  of  this  king,  the  image-makers  were 
classed  as  the  futherers  of  the  holy  cause  and  exempted 
from  many  of  the  restrictions  and  persecutions  which  in 
later  times  became  the  source  of  bloodshed. 

There  was  a  regular  trade  society  of  the  pearl  fishers, 
margaritarii,1*  who,  it  appears,  communicated  with  the 

is  Donati,  Roma,  Vetttt  et  Recent,  p.  327, 51.  It  is  also  mentioned  by  Muratori, 
Thesaurus,  Velerum  fnscriptionum 

is  AUi,  2,  p.  516.     De  Unguentarii.  "  Orell.,  2,988. 

18  Orell.,  Inscriptionum  Latinarum  Collectio,  Nos.  1,602,  4,076,  4,218.  One  of 
these,  No.  4,076  is  a  genuine  trade  union.  No.  4,218  comes  under  the  title  of 
Artei  et  Opifica,  leaving  it  questionable  as  to  its  haying  been  a  private  business. 


BOOKBINDERS.  435 

-workshops  in  the  cities,  which  their  labor  supplied  with 
pearls  in  the  rough.  Diving  and  scraping  in  the  distant 
waters  for  pearls  was,  at  the  starting  point  of  this  preca- 
rious business,  a  trade  which  to  render  successful,  needed 
to  be  fortified  by  a  federation  with  the  inlayers  and  other 
pearl  finishers  working  at  home.  Much  of  this  pearl  was 
used  in  decorating  the  images  which  the  demands  of  an 
idolatrous  faith  places  upon  the  market ;  and  by  thus  fur- 
nishing labor,  gave  bread  to  the  working  people.  On  a 
superficial  view,  the  fact  that  the  great  artists,  such  a 
Phidias,  Myron,  Polycletus,  Alcamenes  of  the  heroic  school 
-of  Ageladas,  or  the  still  more  versatile  school  of  a  few 
years  later  of  which  Lysippas,  Praxiteles  and  Scopas  were 
the  heroes,  we  do  not  find  the  pearl  industry  to  have  ex- 
tensively entered  into  the  composition  of  the  great  sculp- 
tures. But  we  must  remember  first,  that  the  descriptions 
are  defective,  and  next,  that  the  originals  are  lost.1'  We 
know  that  pearls  were  used  in  archaic  times.  If  they  en- 
tered into  the  composition  of  idols — and  there  seems  to 
be  no  ground  for  doubt  of  this — it  must  probably  have 
been  by  inlaying. 

Great  skill  was  required  in  the  whole  pearl  business. 
Among  the  Etruscans  and  Romans  the  art  turned  rather 
toward  the  trinket  manufacture.  Many  of  the  little  goda 
of  the  household,  emblems,  talismans,  mementos  and 
charms  were  gemmed  with  pearls.  Of  course,  these 
things,  at  this  late  period,  if  dug  from  the  ruins,  would 
fail  to  discover  the  perishable  pearls;  because  the  delicate 
carbonate  crumbles  with  moisture,  neglect  and  time. 

We  find  a  few  dim  accounts  of  book-gluers  mixed  up 
with  the  amanuenses  or  scribes.  They  acted  the  part,  so 
to  speak,  of  the  modern  printers.  These,  together  with 
poets,  teachers  and  persons  engaged  in  medicine  and  sur- 
gery, were  always,  or  nearly  always,  of  lowly  birth.** 

is  A  more  thorough  ransacking  of  this  subject  may  bring  to  light  much  of 
value  regarding  the  unions  of  image-makers  who  inscribed  their  record  in  the 
Greek  tongue. 

20  Gunl  and  Kohner,  Life  of  the  Greek*  and  Romant,  p.  526.  "Three  classes 
Amongst  the  slaves  and  freedmen,  held  a  distinguished  position  by  their  intel- 
lectual accomplishments,  viz:  the  media,  chirurgi  and  literati."  As  to  the  literati, 
idem,  p.  529  we  quote  as  follows :  "  We  have  already  mentioned  the  literati,  cul- 
tivated slaves,  general  y  ol  Greek  origin,  who  had  to  copy  books  or  write  from 
dictation.  By  these  slaves  manuscripts  were  copied  with  astounding  celerity, 
•  with  the  aid  of  abbreviations  called,  from  their  inventor,  Tim.  a  freedman  of 
Cicero,  Tironlan  notes.  These  copies,  sometime?  full  of  mistakes,  went  to  the 
shops  of  the  bookseller  (bibliopolaj,  unless  these  kept  copyists  in  their  own 


436  IMAGE-MAKERS. 

Gluers,  glutinatores,  are  spoken  of  by  Cicero."  That  they 
were  numerous  is  evident  from  the  large  amount  of  work 
required  of  this  kind.  The  great  histories  of  ancient 
writers  were  copied  times  without  number  and  some  of 
them  were  bound  in  boards  or  leather  or  cloth  with  much 
art  and  taste.  It  is,  however,  beyond  our  power,  as  yet 
to  discover  whether  the  book-binders  possessed  a  trade 
organization.  The  fact  that  most  of  the  other  trades  had 
unions  renders  it  probable  that  they  also  were  organized, 
and  it  is  possible  that  inscriptions  may  yet  be  discovered 
revealing  the  fact 

shops.  Numerous  copies  were  thus  produced  in  little  time.  The  satirical  writ- 
ings ef  Ovidns.  Propertius  and  Martialiswere  in  everybody's  hands,  as  were  alao 
the  works  of  Homer  and  Virgil,  the  odes  of  Horace,  and  the  ipeeches  of  Cicero ; 
grammars,  anthologies,  etc.,  for  schools,  were  reproduced  in  the  same  manner; 
Indeed,  the  antique  book-trade  was  carried  on  on  a  scale  hardly  surpassed  by 
modern  times."  Much  ia  taken  from  Pliny,  Natural  History,  lib.  XXIX.  intt. 

41  Cicero,  Ad  Atticuan,  liber,  IV.  c.  IY.  1.  See  also  Ore)l.,/nscripM0num, Latin- 
arum  Collettio,  No.  2,925,  4,198.  Glutinarius,  the  inscription  is  on  an  elegant 
tomb  inside  of  a  vault,  according  to  Gruter,  copied  by  (Orell.,  Artes  et  Qpificia, 
Vol.  II.  p.  293).  See  bookbinding,  Ed.  Bevan.  Series  of  British  Manufactory 
Industries,  (Article  by  Freeman  Wood,  pp.  70-ui). 


CHAPTER  XX. 

TRADE    UNIONS    CONCLUDED. 

THE  TAX-GATHERERS.    FINAL   REFLECTIONS. 

Unions  OF  COLLECTORS — A  Vast  Organized  System  with  a  Uni- 
form and  Harmoniously  Working  Business — Trade  Unions 
under  Government  Aid  and  Security — The  Ager  Publicus  of 
Rome — True  Golden  Age  of  Organized  Labor — Government 
Land — A  prodigious  Slave  System  their  Enemy — Victims  of 
the  Slave  System — Premonitions  on  the  Coming  of  Jesus — 
Demand  by  His  Teachings  for  Absolute  Equality. 

JUDGING  from  all  the  records  within  our  reach,  it  was 
Numa  who  first  recognized  the  necessity  of  regularly  or- 
ganized trades  unions  for  express  purposes  of  purveying 
goods  of  every  kind,  in  a  systematic  manner.  He  was  a 
strictly  business  man;  and  the  most  important  business 
has  ever  been  that  of  getting  the  means  of  life.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  federated  trades  there  had  to  be  the  tax 
collectors;  otherwise  the  expenses  of  the  govexi'tient 
could  not  be  defrayed.  For  this,  there  was  a  set  of  work- 
men, whose  express  business  was  to  traverse  city  and 
country  with  their  credentials  from  the  regularly  chart- 
ered union  of  the  Vectigalaria  or  tax  collectors.  There 
were,  at  that  early  time,  no  such  arrangements  as  now  ex- 
ist, by  which  the  government  did  its  own  work  of  this 
kind.  A  labor  guild  or  union  did  this  work  "We  have 
evidence  showing  that  the  men  going  on  their  rounds  col- 
lecting the  taxes,  were  sometimes  severe,  even  brutal  to 
the  poor  farmers,  forcing  them  to  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  law. 

Of  the  branches  into  which  king  Numa  distributed  the 


438  TAX-GATHERERS. 

working  people  we  have  already  spoken  elsewhere,  rep- 
resenting them  as  they  appear  to  us  from  evidence, 
through  a  long  vista  covering  what  we,  for  our  own 
scheme  of  reasoning,  term  the  golden  age  because  the 
workmen  thrived.  Meantime  we  are  well  aware  that  the 
so-called  Golden  Age  of  Rome,  is  reckoned  between  the 
years  250  and  14  before  Christ;  but  this  calculation  is 
made  by  historians  of  the  competitive  system,  and  befits 
itself  to  conquest  and  literature,  not  to  the  progress  of  so- 
cial prosperity.  It  actually  begins  about  the  time  this  so- 
cial and  economical  prosperity  had  reached  its  zenith. 
We  cannot  admit  the  Golden  Age  of  Rome  to  have  begun 
at  so  late  a  date.  From  a  well  sought  point  of  view  of 
sociology  this  era  began  with  the  recognition,  by  the  law 
of  Numa,  of  the  right  of  free  organization ;  and  the  la- 
borers' methodical  assumption  of  the  business  of  supply- 
ing the  people  with  the  means  of  life.  This  was  the  true 
golden  age  of  Rome ;  and  as  it  also  covers  the  largest 
part  of  the  era  ordinarily  admitted  to  have  been  the 
golden  age,  including  the  great  period  of  Roman  conquest 
and  the  splendid  era  of  literature,  it  only  varies  in  hav- 
ing commenced  670,  instead  of  250  years  before  Christ. 

If  it  was  necessary  for  the  scheme  of  Numa  to  have  the 
public  lands  formed  by  the  guilds  or  societies  of  practi- 
cal agriculture  it  was  also  as  necessary  for  him  to  institute 
some  reliable  means  of  collecting  the  fruits  of  this  labor 
and  distributing  them  among  those  whom  the  law  recog- 
nized as  the  true  owners.  We  have  had  abundant  evi- 
dence that  among  the  ancient  Indo-European  Aryans,  no 
persons  except  those  born  to  an  inheritance  possessed  the 
right  of  owning  the  public  domain.  Even  the  patricians 
who  were  the  privileged  class,  and  the  makers  of  the  laws, 
did  not,  until  a  comparatively  late  date,  attempt  to  get  per- 
sonal possession  of  the  ager  publicity  of  Italy.  The  plebei- 
ans who  were  the  only  workers,  never  owned  any  land. 
The  state  owned  the  land  and  the  proletaries  worked  it. 
The  fruits  of  the  lands  had  to  be  brought  to  the  people. 
What  is  meant  by  the  state  ownership,  in  ancient  law,  is 
citizen  ownership — the  state  holding  it  in  common  for  the 
citizens.  But  who  were  the  citizens  ?  It  certainly  was, 
not  the  working  people,  who  were  the  outcasts,  the  de- 
scendants of  the  slaves,  or  the  slaves  themselves.  They 


ANCIENT  PLAN  OF  TAXATION.  439 

owned  nothing  and  could  own  nothing.  But  their  func- 
tion was  to  do  the  work  ;  and  Numa  permitted  them  to 
organize  and  do  the  work  socially  or  in  common. 

After  the  harvest  the  grain  had  to  be  distributed 
among  the  citizens  who.  according  to  the  law,  were  the 
owners  of  the  land,  the  state  holding  it  for  them  in  trust. 
The  workers  were  always  obliged  to  recognize  their  lowly 
condition,  and  were  always  glad  to  get  enough  of  what 
they  produced  to  keep  them  alive.' 

The  plan  instituted  whereby  to  collect  these  products 
and  distribute  them  among  the  privileged  citizens  and 
others,  was  organization  of  the  vectigalarii  or  collectors  of 
incomes,  who  did  this  work  through  a  system  of  societies. 
The  society  had  a  manager  or  principal  overseer,  procu- 
rator, and  was  also  supplied  with  a  quaestor  or  inspector, 
who  was  perhaps  the  chief  clerk.  Then  came  sometimes 
a  secretary,  a  treasurer  and  foremen  and  the  working 
hands,  all  of  whom  constituted  the  membership  of  the 
union  or  commune.  The  old  name  of  the  secretary  was 
sometimes  set  down  in  the  inscriptions  found  by  the  an- 
tiquaries, as  cornicularius,1  which  signified  that  the  secre- 
tary had  risen  to  the  place  by  promotion.  It  appears 
from  the  numerous  inscriptions  cut  in  stones,  that  these 
customs  collectors  had  societies  or  unions  all  over  the 
provinces  under  Roman  domination.3  At  Lyons,  after 
the  conquest  of  Csesar,  there  were  several  of  them."  Their 
work  was  to  collect  the  proceeds  of  the  harvests. 
Others  collected  the  products  of  the  manufactories :  others 
the  proceeds  of  the  fisheries.  Even  the  proceeds  of  the 
brothels  were  collected  and  distributed  in  money.4  All 
the  multiform  labor  of  collecting  had  to  be  done,  and  the 
state  made  it  obligatory  upon  the  customs-unions  to  do 
their  work  well.  This  accounts  for  Granier's*  remark 

1  Later  an  assistant  secretary,  Cod.  TJieodosii,  VII.  4,  32. 

8  See  Orell.,  Inscriptionurn  Collectio,  6,642.  Vectigalia and  many  others. 

3  Boissean,  Inscription  de  Lyon,  VII.  25,  p.  272,  found  one  which  reads  as 
follows:  "  Memoriae  AureliiCeciliani  prffipositus.  Vectigaliumposuit  Epictatus 
Alumnvs— Lugduni."  Meaning  that  Epic  the  apprentice  inscribed  the  slab  to 
the  honor  of  the  director  one  Aureiius  Cecil,  in  Lyons, 

<  banger.  History  of  Prostitution;  Rome,  j>.  68:  "The  Prostibulce  (strangera 
not  organized)  paid  no  tax  to  the  state;  while  their  registered  rivals  (organized 
mercirictt,  see  p.  66  idem),  contributed  largely  to  the  municipal  treasury."  Greece, 
48.  "  Any  speculator  had  a  right  to  set  up  a  dicteriott  by  paying  the  tax  to  the 
state.'' 

5  Hisioire  des  Classes  Ouvriera,  chap.  xiv.  Ancien'.  Trade  Unions  and  Their  De- 
velopment. 


44  0  TA  X-  GA  THERERS. 

that  these  customs  collectors  were  sometimes  brutal  to 
the  poor  farmers  whose  unions  failed  to  garner  as  much 
as  the  law  required.'  It  is  evident  that  the  collectors  had 
to  put  themselves  in  direct  business  relation  with  the 
union  of  vectuarii  or  teamsters ;  as  they  more  frequently 
took  the  produce  itself  than  the  money.  Their  practice 
was  to  supply  the  citizens,  not  so  much  with  the  money 
these  proceeds  of  labor, were  worth,  but  with  the  proceeds 
themselves.7 

The  trade  unions  were  recognized  by  the  state  and  held 
responsible  to  the  state  for  their  work.  If  in  conveying 
the  grain  from  the  farms  to  Rome,  the  wagon  was  attacked 
by  mountaineer  brigands  and  the  goods  lost,  the  citizens, 
who  were  the  state,  held,  not  the  teamsters  but  the  whole 
union  responsible.  In  almost  all  cases,  however,  the  pro- 
duce of  the  ager  pubiicus  was  transmitted  to  Borne  by  sea. 

For  instance;  a  certain  quota  of  the  province  of  Aquit- 
ania,  or  the  neighboring  province  of  Lugdunensis,  where 
are  found  many  relics  of  these  societies,  is  claimed  at  Rome. 
Lugdunum  or  Lyons  was  connected  by  water  every  step 
of  the  way  to  Rome.  The  society  at  Lyons  sent  the  grain 
down  the  river  Rhone  by  barges  to  the  Mediterranean.  At 
Aries,  a  ship  took  it  on  board  and  consigned  it  to  Ostia,  the 
mouth  of  the  Tiber  and  port  of  Rome.  Now  the  barges  of 
the  Tiber  had  to  belong  to  a  union.  So  there  were  unions 
of  bargers,  caudicarii.  The  first  society  guaranteed  the 
safe  arrival  of  the  grain  as  far  as  the  mouths  of  the  Rhone, 
Ora  Rhodani.  Here  were  the  ships  of  another  society 
to  further  convey  it  to  the  port  of  Rome,  so  hither  it  had 
to  be  conveyed  on  board  a  ship.  Thus  is  seen  why  the  sea- 
faring men  also  must  have  an  organization;  otherwise,  if  the 
ship  was  lost,  captain,  crew  and  cargo,  there  would  remain 
nobody  responsible ;  and  the  citizens  would  be  the  sole  suf- 
ferers. It  became  necessary  therefore,  since  the  govern- 
ment had  jobbed  out  one  part  of  this  business  to  a  commune, 
that  it  do  the  same  thing  in  their  case,  bc-cause  the  rich  citi- 
zens who  were  to  be  fed  by  labor,  though,  personifying 
government,  could  legislate  or  conduct  war,  could  not  work; 
because  upon  it  there  was  a  taint.  So  the  order  of  the  navi- 

6  Dionysius  of  HalicarnassuB,  book  V.  chap,  43,  explains  the  power  of  the 
law  permitting  and  furthering  these  organizations. 

*  Granier.  Histoire  des  Classes  Ouvriers,  chap.  xiv.  Much  additional  informa- 
tion may  be  obtained  by  reading  this  valuable  chapter  of  M.  uranier'8  wort--. 


THE   RESPONSIBLE    UNIONS.  441 

cutarii  existed;  and  being  chartered  by  government,  was 
made  responsible  for  th  e  loss  of  any  cargo.  When  the  cargo 
arrived  at  Ostia,  the  month  of  the  Tiber,  sixteen  miles  from 
Rome,  it  was  conveyed  to  the  granaries  of  the  city  by  the 
societies  of  boatmen,  known  as  caudicarii,  bargemen,  under 
guarantee,  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  in  former  cases. 
Thus  for  the  least  possible  trouble  and  with  utmost  security, 
the  government  or  non-laboring  citizens  got  the  greatest 
possible  amount  of  produce  from  the  ager  publicus,  or  com- 
mon land.  Yet  the  people  who  labored  were  satisfied  and 
thrived  better  than  they  were  ever  known  to  thrive  under 
any  system,  because  their  industry  produced  enormously 
and  their  strong  arms  made  labor  easy,  agreeable  and  safe. 

Now  the  customs  collectors  or  vectigalarii  were  interested 
in  all  these  details  of  supply  ;  because  the  government  looked 
to  them  directly  or  indirectly  for  everything  the  citizen 
population  had  to  live  upon  from  year  to  year. 

But  the  supply  of  grain,  wine,  oil  and  other  agricultural 
products  was  not  all  these  tax  collectors  had  to  attend  to. 
There  were  many  artisan  societies.  These  we  have  treated 
separately  and  in  regular  order,  according  to  their  import- 
ance. They  all  had  more  or  less  to  do  with  the  tax  or  cus- 
toms collectors,  with  whom  they  were  interlinked  in  the 
gr^at  social  bond.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  the  pork 
butchers  union,8  there  were  officers  appointed  whose  busi- 
ness was  to  go  personally,  or  send,  into  the  stock  farm 
c  'Uiitry  and  collect  the  tai  either  in  money  or  in  kind. 
This  would,  of  course,  entail  an  immense  amount  more  labor 
than  that  attached  to  butchery.  It  would  entail  the  whole 
business  of  the  drover.  Weighing  would  require  much  at- 
tention and  an  inspection  of  all  the  various  operations  of 
several  vocations. 

Slabs  have  been  found  to  the  number  of  262,  bearing  in- 
scriptions of  the  vectigalia,  of  different  dates,  ranging  mostly 
from  the  time  of  the  first  Caesars  to  that  of  the  emperor 
C-instantine.  These  262  include  only  those  registered  by 
Orelli  in  his  work  on  the  Roman  Antiquities.  Great  num- 
bers of  those  unions  probably  existed  of  which  no  record 

»  Granier,  whose  researches  into  these  societies  and  the  laws  governing  them 
reveal  an  astonishing  versatility  and  accuracy,  says  that  very  many,  if  not  all  the 
commercial  trades  had  officers .  whose  work  was  to  oversee  the  customs  collec- 
tions. See  idem,  \>\>.  niO-315.  There  was  a  Boatmen's  insurance  mentioned  by 
I.ivy  xxiii.  cap.  44.  Beckmann,  HM.  of  Inventions,  (Bonn)  I.  p.  234.  (Caudica- 


442  TAX-  GA  THERE RS. 

was  kept,  and  antiquaries  of  the  future  may  yet  reveal  more. 
On  the  whole  these  facts  regarding  inner  workings  of  the 
ancient  human  family  present  a  picture  of  deep  interest,  re- 
vealing as  they  do  a  system  of  industry  unique  in  its  method 
of  supplying  the  great  population  of  Rome  at  that  time  con- 
taining probably  about  2,000,000  inhabitants 9  and  its  nu- 
merous municipia  or  provincial  cities  and  town  with  mer.ns 
of  life.  The  vectigalia  evidently  covered  more  of  the  im- 
mense business  of  those  times  than  the  ordinary  reader 
would  ascribe  to  them.  Orelli,10  speaks  of  iron  miners  who 
sometimes  interlinked  with  the  mines  situated  at  great  dis- 
tances from  the  city  ;  yet  it  would  appear  by  this  mention 
that  the  miners  far  away  in  the  mountains  and  perfectly  or- 
ganized, were  in  close  and  systematic,  if  not  happy  mutual 
communication  with  the  forgers'  association  stationed  at 
Home. 

The  most  remarkable  part  of  the  system  was  that  it  was 
government  work;  that  the  work  was  performed  by  trade 
unions  instead  of  isolated  individuals  as  in  the  competitive 
system;  and  that  during  many  centuries  through  which  this 
system  existed,  both  in  war  and  peace,  the  ancient  working 
people  were  prosperous  and  happy.  Of  course,  this  organ- 
ization does  not  apply  in  any  form  to  slaves.  This  terrible 
scourge  of  the  human  race  still  existed  ;  but  there  are  strong 
proofs  that  the  trade  unions  were  at  one  time  making  in- 
roads upon  the  slave  system  which  required  care  by  the 
masters  and  slave  owners  in  order  to  conduct  business; 
whereas  the  trade  union  system  endorsed  by  king  Numa 
lifted  all  the  troublesome  details  and  responsibilities  from 
the  shoulders  of  the  patricians  who  regarded  individual  la- 
bor as  a  disgrace.  Labor  being  a  humiliation  to  the  pro- 
pertied class  who  managed  the  government  land  but  did  not 
perform  the  actual  work,  it  was  a  matter  of  convenience  for 
them  to  have  trade  unions.  The  state,  then,  was  their  great 
patron  and  protector.  Rich  individual  slave  owners  like 
Crassus  or  Cicero  or  Nicias  could  job  out  their  slaves'  labor 
to  persons  of  enterprise,  but  the  very  pride  of  their  blood 
prevented  them  from  undertaking  any  except  the  noble  en- 

9  Consult  Dr.  Beloch.  Bulletin  de  Statisque  de  I'Institttte  International,  tome,. 
I.  ann6e  1886,  p.  62  sqq.  Roma. 

1°  Roman  antiquities,  Xo.  1,239  vectigalia  ferrariorum  also  ferrifodinarit 
See  also  Mur.  9T2. 10.  The  inscr.  reads:  "6.  M.  Primonis ferrariariorum  vitali* 
contuber."  Found  at  the  mines  of  Nimea. 


NO   REVOLUTION.  443 

terprises  of  war  and  politics.  There  was  nobody  to  com- 
pete with  the  unions  and  the  state  became  their  great  em- 
ployer. But  we  have  seen  in  our  account  of  strikes  and  up- 
risings that  human  cupidity,  taking  advantage  of  the  slave 
system  and  by  means  of  it,  grasping,  holding  and  tilling  the 
ager  publicus^  finally  destroyed  the  public  trade  unions. 

That  the  trade  union  or  social  system  was  good  there- 
seems  to  be  no  ground  for  doubt ;  but  the  workman  being 
stamped  by  the  old  religio-political  jealousy  of  paganism 
which  branded  him  as  a  wretch,  preventing  him  from  taking 
political  action,  whereby  to  secure  and  fortify  his  system, 
gave  the  grandees  all  the  advantage  because  they  made  the 
laws.  When,  therefore,  the  unions  found  that  they  must 
exercise  their  political  power,  which  they  did  in  later  times, 
it  was  too  late.  They  were  themselves  too  deeply  tinged 
with  the  deadly,  unmanly  sense  that  their  masters  were 
superior  to  them  by  birth.  There  had  been  no  Christ  to 
boldly  declare  a  new  state  of  things  based  upon  absolute 
equality  by  birth  and  natural  rights  of  all  men.  Seeing  the 
encroachments  upon  themselves  as  well  as  upon  the  public 
lands  their  sole  source  of  raw  material,  the  trade  unions 
tardily  fell  into  the  struggle,  learned  to  wrestle  valiantly, 
Buffered  a  more  pronounced  hatred  of  their  masters,  grew 
in  self-dignity  but  gradually  lost  in  vested  rights,  forced  up 
a  great  social  struggle  but  incurred  the  deep-rooted  hatred 
of  Cicero  and  Csesar,  grew  poorer,  more  numerous,  more 
Becret,  vindictive  and  conniving  and  wrought  up  a  spirit  all 
over  Greece,  Rome,  Judea  and  the  provinces,  which  ren- 
dered possible  the  kindling  of  that  marvelous  revolution  that 
destroyed  the  identity  of  ancient  paganism. 

But  there  is  one  thing  our  researches  tail  to  discover. 
We  do  not  find  clear  and  sufficient  evidences  of  a  system 
of  agricultural  communes.  These  may  have  existed.  We 
are  in  doubt.  Everything  else  was  organized.  Where  is 
this  missing  link?  Had  it  existed,  would  not  the  great  trade 
nnion  system  have  grown  so  complete  as  to  gradually  ob- 
tain the  ascendency,  political  as  well  as  industrial  and  thus 
been  able  to  realize  thousands  of  years  ago,  the  revolution  ? 


CHAPTEB  XXI. 

ROMANS  AND  GREEKS. 

THE  COUNTLESS    COMMUNES. 

US'IONS  OF  ROMANS  AND  G-RBKKS  compared — Miscellaneous  Soci- 
eties of  Tradesmen — Shipcarpenters — Boatmen — Vesselmak- 
era — Millers — Organization  of  the  Lupanarii — Of  the  Anci- 
ent Firemen — Description  of  the  Greek  Fraternities — The 
Eranoi  and  Thiasoi- — Strange  Mixture  of  Fiety  and  Easiness 
— Trade  Unions  of  Syria  and  North  Palestine — Their  Offi- 
cers— Membership  and  Influence  of  Women — Large  Num- 
bers of  Communes  in  the  Islands  of  the  Eastern  Med  iterra- 
nean — Their  Organizations  Known  and  Described  From  their 
Inscriptions. 

ALL  antiquity  was  at  one  time  a  hive  of  trade  unions. 
Nearly  every  species  of  business  was  organized.  Especially 
was  this  the  case  in  southern  Italy,  where  Plato  found  a 
System  of  communism  extensively  prevailing,  supposed  by 
some  to  have  been  planted  there  by  Pythagoras.1  The  early 
inhabitants  of  the  Italian  peninsula  were  well  acquainted 
with  trade  unionism ;  and  traces  of  it,  if  not  mentioned  are 
<liscernable  in  history  and  this  fact  stands  as  the  funda- 
mental solution  to  many  of  the  otherwise  incomprehensible 
things  which  have  puzzled  modern  historians.  Neverthe- 
less the  nobility  and  its  laws  of  primogeniture  reigned  in 
circles  of  politics  and  power.  Plato  is  known  to  have  vis- 
ited Italy  several  times  in  search  of  material  for  his  ideal 
state.  He  was,  however,  so  much  of  an  aristocrat,  or  so 
enslaved  by  his  environments  that  ha  signally  (ailed  to  give 

1  Drumann,  Arbeiter  und  Communfsten  in  Grie.ehmtand  ttnd  Ron,  aomowhere 
remarks  that  Pythagoras  and  Numa  were  not  only  contemporaries  but  personal 
friuude.  II  so,  we  cannot  wonder  that  >"uma  beiriended  the  trade  onions. 


ORGANIZED   SAILORS.  445 

the  world  the  benefit  of  his  communistical  lucubrations.  The 
nearest  he  could  possibly  get  to  a  decent  government  was 
to  one  of  bosses,  policemen  and  slaves,  and  the  sociologist 
of  our  day  is  forced  to  drop  Plato  with  a  species  of  chagrin 
or  disgust.  Aristotle  did  better ;  but  both  were  aristocrats, 
enslaved  10  great  men  of  wealth.  Both  Solon  and  Numa, 
long  before  them  had  planted  the  real,  practical  government 
which  the  world  is  at  this  moment  following.  Though  Aris- 
totle could  analyze  the  course  the  world  should  and  does 
take,  yet  he  was  too  Pagan-bound  to  see  beyond  the  galling 
bands  of  slavery. 

The  Fabri  navalium,  ship  carpenters  and  boat  makers,  of 
the  Tiber  had  well  regulated  unions  which  were  considered 
among  the  most  respectable  of  the  organizations.  These 
Associations  were  found  along  the  banks  of  the  navigable 
rivers  and  the  coasts  of  the  sea  on  both  sides  of  the  penin- 
sula and  also  in  Sicily. 

Of  the  boatmen's  unions,  collegia  naviculariorum,  the 
greater  number,  according  to  our  evidence,  were  to  be  found 
in  the  country.  There  could  not  have  been  many  boatmen 
at  Home  ;  but  we  have  a  mention,  among  others,  by  the 
great  jurist  Gaius,  who  speaks  of  them  in  discriminating  the 
right  of  organization  in  later  times.2  The  unions  of  boatmen 
were  naturally  confined  to  the  sea  shores.  We  might  speak 
of  them  as  possibly  connected  directly  or  indirectly  with 
the  lawless  boatmen  who  swarmed  the  sea  from  Naples  to 
Syracuse,  and  whom  Plutarch  says  Spartacus  found  to  be 
treacherous,  without  principles  and  looking  only  for  grain. 
Even  to  this  day  the  Mediterranean  is  lined  with  them  from 
Gibralter  to  Barcelona  and  thence  to  Toronto.  At  Genoa 
and  Nice  and  on  the  Baltic,  they  are  still  well  organized 
and  take  advantage  of  every  opportunity  to  gain  a  lira  by 
fair  means  and  in  all  their  methods  to  attain  this  end  are 
thoroughly  sustained  by  one  another,  as  they  enjoy  all  the 
mutually  assisting  quirks  known  to  their  union. 

The  collegium  vasculariorum*  (metal  vessel  makers),  was, 
of  course,  a  union  of  potters;  but  it  appears  their  art  was 
mostly,  if  not  quite  confined  to  manufacturing  vessels  in 

*  Gaius,  Digest,  1,  III.  4,  "  Item  collegia  Romae  certa  sunt,  quorum  corpus 
tanctis  coll.  atque  constitntionibus  principalibus  coniiraiatum  eat,  veluti  pis- 
torum  et  quorundam  aliorum  et  naviculariorum  et  inprovinciis  sunt." 

a  An  old  inscription  mutilated  by  age  and  ill  usage  reads:  llP,  Monetius  so- 
ciorum  ISbertus,  Philogenes  vascularins  Veturia  C.  1.  Salvia  sibei  et  sueis."  (Se« 
¥»brettl,  Intcriptumwn  Antiquarian  Explicatio,  632,  276.) 


446  THE    COUNTLESS    COMMUNES. 

metals.  The  vascularii  were  skilled  workmen.  They  often 
wrought  beautiful  urns  in  bronze  and  ofcher  material.  Some 
of  the  delicately  chiseled  amphorae  having  two  handles  were 
of  their  workmanship,  although  most  amphorae  were  made 
of  potters'  clay.  Many  vessels  in  gold  were  the  work  of 
their  hands.  They  are  known  to  have  realized  well  by  vir- 
tue of  their  trade  union ;  because  their  patrons  were  largely 
the  proud  gens  who  were  not  stingy  about  the  amount  of 
cost,  if  they  could  have  their  aesthetic  tastes  gratified. 

The  collegium  pistorum,  union  of  millers,  who  ground 
grain  in  mortars  and  afterwards  in  mills,  was  also  a  trade 
organization.  This  trade  was  a  very  important  one,  as  it 
furnished  thefarines  for  the  family  use  of  all  who  could  af- 
fored  to  eat  wheat  flour  or  any  of  the  cereals,  course  or  fine. 
When  we  further  take  into  account  that  it  required  at  least 
seventy  men  to  grind  as  much  grain  in  a  given  time  as  is 
now  ground  in  a  steam  mill  by  a  single  man,  we  may  realize 
that  in  Rome  and  vicinity  there  must  have  been  several 
thousand  workmen  constantly  employed  at  this  handicraft 
in  order  to  produce  enough  to  supply  the  demand.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  there  were  many  people 
at  Rome  and  everywhere,  and  from  the  earliest  times,  too 
poor  to  enjoy  bread  and  who  were  obliged  to  subsist  on 
peas,  roots  and  other  cheap  food.4  Nevertheless  the  mil- 
lers were  numerous,  and  being  organized,  they  succeeded 
in  competing  with  slave  labor  and  got  considerable  of  the 
work  to  do  as  a  free  industry. 

Originally  or  in  the  remotest  antiquity,  all  such  work  was 
done  by  slaves  on  the  paternal  estate,  under  the  eye  of  the 
paterfamilies  or  head  of  the  family ;  but  when  those  de- 
graded slaves  became  numerous  and  began  to  think  for 
themselves,  as  we  have  previously  seen,  they  secured  manu- 

<  Feeding  the  laboring  class  poor  food  is  of  early  record.  Herodotus  (Eriterp 
125).  expressly  tells  how  cheap  fed  were  laborers  who  built  the  great  Egyptian 
monuments.  They  were  glad  to  get  onions,  garlic  and  roots.  The  same  para- 
graph explains  the  cost  of  their  living:  "  Sea-ij^eurai  fie  Sia  ypafindriov  Ai-yvirTiW 
tv  rjj  TTVpafii-Si,  ocra  Is  rt  &vpij.a.ii)v  KO.\  Kpo/j-fiva  KOI  o-KOpoSa.  di/ai<rifx<i0>)  rolo-t 
ipya.fofjifvoi.cri:-  <cai  <o$  ejj.i  eii  fj.efi.vrjcrSa.na.  6  ep/utvevs  fJ.O(.  ejriAeydjAevos  To  ypa.fJ-fia.TO. 
•i<j>-q  t£axo<rta  »cal  \i\ia  TaAavra  dpyvpiov  TcreAetr&u.''  Still  earlier,  Homer, 
(Odyssy,  XIV.  _414,  415,  416,)  says; 

"'AfeO'  viav  rbv  apiorrov,  leva  (eivif  lepevcru 

T7jAt<5a7riu  jrpbs  5'  avroi  ovrjcr6fj.e9\  oiwtp  bi£vv 

AIJV  f\0ft:fv  iraa\ovTtTi  viov  even'  apyiaoovriav." 

Shows  that  the  poor  fed  on  pork.  See  Guhl  and  Konor,  Lift  of  tht  Greeks  and 
.Romans,  p.  501  for  the  later  Roman  food.  Virgil,  Eclogue,  II.  v.  9,  10,  parsely 
smaUage  and  onions ;  So  Horace,  Ad  Pisonem;  V.  249;  "  Nee  si  quid  fricti  ciceri 
probftt  et  nucis  emptor."  Pliny ,  XXVI.  3. 


447 

missions  and  thus  the  trade  unionists  were  mostly  freedmen 
who  had  the  sagacity  to  organize.  The  advantages  in  those 
days,  of  a  good,  sound,  business-like  union  for  each  trade 
must  have  been  very  great ;  especially  so,  as  their  unions 
were  communistical,  and  used  as  means  of  convivial  enjoy- 
ment, as  well  as  for  economic  ends. 

Of  the  collegiumincendarium,  or  firemen's  association  men- 
tion is  made  by  Mommsen,  who  wonders  why  they  should 
be  suppressed ;  since  burial  and  firemen's  societies  were 
among  those  saved.5 

The  collegium  Vinariorum,  (wine  dealers  and  wine  vault- 
ers)  was  an  institution  of  later  date  than  Numa,  who  did  not 
encourage  wine  drinking.  If  there  are  data  extant  regard- 
ing them  at  so  early  a  time,  we  have  failed  to  find  them. 
During  the  time  of  the  emperors,  however,  they  were  the 
subject  of  discussion  as  to  whether  they  should  be  sup- 
pressed or  exempted.6  The  collegium  lupanariorum  (bro- 
thel keepers),  as  is  seen  in  the  passage  here  cited,  was  .in 
institution  well  known  in  the  later  ages  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire and  two  centuries  before  Christ  there  were  secret  asso- 
ciations of  the  lupanarii,'  of  which  an  account  has  gone 
into "  history.  These  were  curious  products  of  the  mania 
for  organization  that  must  have  existed  at  Rome.  But  it 
must  lie  remembered  that  the  whole  plebeian  class  of  inhab- 
itants were  out  in  the  cold,  competitive  world,  and  de- 
pending each  upon  his  or  her  trade  or  profession  which  he 
or  she  considered  right,  so  long  as  it  was  patronized  by  the 
elegant  people  of  the  other  class  who  had  social  as  well  as 
political  institutions  upon  which  they  could  base  a  guaranty 
of  safety. 

During  a  visit  in  Europe  we  became  indebted  to  Mr. 
Henry  Tompkins  of  the  Friendly  Societies'  Registration  at 
London,  from  whose  hand  was  first  received  a  copy  of  his 
pamphlet  on  the  Friendly  Societies  of  Antiquity.  We  also 
made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  Professors  Vogt,  Errera, 
Huber.  Vigano  and  many  others  who  referred  us  to  volumes 

5  "  Ut  enlxn  senatus  e.  g.  et  fcnerum  causa  et  incendiorum  jus  coeuudi  re- 
Mqnerit,  qua  ratione  vetiti  sunt,  ii  qui  f  unerario  collegio  intererant  incendiornm 
causa  societatem  iaire?  "  (Mommsen,  DC  ColltoiU  et  Sodaliciis  jRamanorum,  p. 
89,. 

*  Corpora  omnium  constieuit  vinarioraiu  lupanariorum  caligarioruin  et  pai- 
aio  omiuuni  artiura  Msque ex sese deiensores dedit  et  jassit  quidadqnos  judices 
pertinent.  (Lamprid,  Alex.  Severas.  c.  33). 

f  See  Sanger's  Hist,  of  Prottituiion.  p.  Gt>. 

«  Livy,  XXXIX..  8-19. 


448  TEE  COUNTLESS  COMMUNES. 

of  Drumann,  Foucart,  Wescher,  Liiders,  Mommsen,  De 
Broglie  and  others.  It  is  through  the  great  labors  of  such 
men  that  the  modern  students  of  the  labor  movements  are 
made  aware  of  what  wonders  in  the  social  problem  were 
wrought  in  antiquity.  But  their  evidence  is  nearly  all  de- 
rived from  the  silent  inscriptions  upon  slabs,  urns  and  sar- 
cophagi that  survive  the  corroding  vicissitudes  of  the  sad 
centuries.  In  fact  the  industry  of  the  archaeologists  may 
yet  reveal  as  valuable  contributions  to  the  science  of  soci- 
ology as  the  fossil  diggers  have  revealed  to  their  branch  of 
paleontology.  It  is  now  made  certain  from  multitudes  of 
inscriptions  which  have  weathered  the  storms  of  more  than 
two  thousand  years,  that  great  numbers  of  social  organiza- 
tions of  the  laboring  classes  existed  simultaneously  in  Asia 
Minor,  Egypt,  Greece  and  Italy. 

The  variety  of  names  for  them  found  on  the  relics  are 
more  attributable  to  epochs  and  languages  than  to  differ- 
ences in  their  character  and  tenets  of  association.  Where 
the  Greek  was  spoken  they  were  called  after  the  term  eranos, 
meaning  a  meal  of  victuals  in  common,  or  food  for  which 
a  common  assessment  was  made  upon  members  who  enjoyed 
it  by  mutual  consent.  Thus  it  came  to  be  a  method  of  pro- 
curing or  earning  the  meal — a  trade  union.  Hence  the 
eranoi  were  organizations  or  co-operations  for  the  purposes 
of  self-support;  and  partook  more  of  the  character  of  the 
community  method,  such  as  in  our  day  exhibits  itself  at  the 
Societe  de  Conde  sur  Vesgre,  than  of  the  more  prevalent 
co-operative  associations,9  like  the  Equitables. 

This  term  Eranos  is  unmistakable  in  meaning.  An  oblo- 
quy attaches  to  it,  pretty  much  the  same  as  to  our  word 
communism,  wherever  it  is  used  in  the  classics ;  because 
the  societies  existed  during  that  period  of  the  world's  career 
in  which  the  sovereignty  of  the  individual  was  more  fierce 
and  intolerant  toward  the  meeker  spirit  of  mutual  help  than 
it  is  now;  for  the  eranoi  were  the  Greek  guilds.  Yet  evi- 
dences are  abundant  that  such  communities  existed  in  large 
numbers ;  that  they  obtained  no  little  moral  and  pecuniary 
aid  from  outside;  that  they  were  persecuted  by  the  politi- 
cians, hated  by  the  optimates,  and  were  obliged  to  assume 

»  Consult  Ltidere,  Die  Dionysischen  KGnstler.  Einleitendt  UeberticM,  8. 1-49. 
Verschiedenheit  und  Augbreitung  der  Organisational . 


GREEK  LABOR    UNIONS.  449 

a  good  deal  of  veneration  for  the  sods,  and  play  other  so- 
cial as  weil  as  political  counter-tactics  to  exist. 

Another  name,  that  of  Thiasos,  was  given  to  a  similar, 
and  it  would  appear  cotemporaneous  class  of  organization. 
In  fact  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  determine,  the  thiasoi  and 
the  eranoi  were  pretty  much  one  and  the  same  thing.  But 
as  the  term  thiasos  with  the  various  forms  of  verb  and  sub- 
stantive, refers  to  demonstrations  of  joy,  such  as  marching, 
dancing,  singing  and  the  like,  in  the  open  streets,  it  appears 
they  were  one  kind  of  organization  with  two  names — that 
of  eranoi,  the  secret  union  which  met  twice  and  sometimes 
four  times  a  month  ;  and  of  the  more  generally  known  thiasoi 
whose  members  sometimes  paraded  in  large  numbers  in  the 
open  air.10 

Mr.  Tompkins,  who  has  devoted  his  very  useful  life  to 
statistical  matters  regarding  the  Friendly  Societies  of  Great 
Britain,  is  prone  to  picture  analogies  between  the  ancient 
and  the  modern  form.  Studying  the  former  from  the  light 
he  and  others  have  rendered,  we  are  strongly  suspicious, 
because  they  were  distinct  from  the  bacchanalia  and  the 
more  ancient  erotiae,  that  they  were  unions  of  trades  whose 
tenets  involved  nearly  all  the  elements  of  the  socialists  of 
to-day,  rather  than  ot  the  present  standard  of  liberty  and  de- 
velopment to  be  found  in  the  Friendly  Societies  of  Great 
Britain.  According  to  Mr.  Tompkins'  list,  which  was  al- 
ways official,  the  Friendly  Societies  in  1868  numbered  23, 
000,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  1,700,000,  and  a 
capital  of  nearly  50,000,000  dollars.11  The  comparison 
therefore  is  at  least  respectable.  We  quote  from  his  paraph- 
let  on  Friendly  Societies  of  Antiquity: 

"Let  us  now  consider  what  these  companies  were  which 
are  called  by  the  names  of  eranos  and  thiasos,  and  of  which 
the  following  and  other  inscriptions  have  revealed  the  num- 
ber and  importance.  These  companies  were  formed  of 
members  who  met  together  to  sacrifice  to  certain  divinities 
and  to  celebrate  their  festivals  in  common  ;  besides  this  they 
assisted  those  members  who  fell  into  necessitous  circum- 
stances, and  provided  for  their  funerals.  They  were  at  once 
religious  associations  and  friendly  societies.12  Sometimes 

10  See  further  on  these  distinctions  in  subsequent  chapters,  also  much  re- 
epecting  them  and  the  Jewish  and  Egyptian  cummnnes. 

'  Report  of  the  Registrar  of  Friendly  Societies  of  Gieat  Britain,  for  the  year  1868 
u  This  author  might  have  here  said  "trade  uniona;"  for  numbers  or  the 


450  THE  COUNTLESS   COMMUNES. 

they  daringly  partook  of  a  political  and  commercial  character- 
These  private  corporations  (recognized  by  the  state),  had 
their  presiding  and  other  officers,  their  priests,  their  funds 
supplied  by  the  contributions  of  members  and  the  liberality 
of  benefactors.  They  assembled  in  their  sanctuary  and 
made  decrees.  They  were  found  in  great  numbers  in  the 
important  cities,  and  especially  in  the  maritine  ones.  At 
Rhodes,  for  example,  there  were  the  Companions  of  the 
Sun,  the  Sons  of  Bacchus,  of  Minerva  Lindienne,  of  Jupiter 
Atabyrius,  of  Jupiter  the  Savior.  At  Athens  (or  rather  at 
the  Pirams),  there  were  the  Heroistes,  the  Serapistes  or 
company  of  the  worshipers  of  the  god  Serapis,theEranstes 
the  Orgeons  and  lastly  the  thiasotes."13 

Many  of  these  were  trade  unions  possessing  a  common 
fund,  the  amount  of  which  depended  upon  the  number  of 
members  who  paid  regular  contributions,  and  the  amount 
of  the  donations  that  were  given  from  wealthier  people  who 
were  in  sympathy  with  them.  There  is  plenty  of  evidence 
that  women  as  well  as  men  formed  the  membership  of  these 
societies.  Woman  took  her  stand  with  all  the  dignity  and 
the  honors  of  the  man  ;  and  there  are  several  slabs  of  stone 
and  other  relics  on  which  are  inscribed  some  of  the  particu- 
lars in  regard  to  the  kind  and  importance  of  the  honors 
awarded  her  for  faithfulness  and  ability  in  performing  the 
duties  of  an  executive  officer.  The  monthly  meetings  or  so- 
ciables held  in  enclosed  gardens  and  groves  were  largely 
conducted  by  the  women  who  gave  the  attractive  convivial 
feature,  which  may  account  for  their  long  existence  and 
extraordinary  status  and  power,  that  enabled  them  to  do 
what  no  social  society  of  our  more  enlightened  age  is  doing 
— write  their  record  as  the  dinotherium  and  the  trilobite 
have  done,  in  the  irrefutable  argument  of  their  stone  remains 
.  and  inprints.  There  are  at  present  very  few  societies  of  so- 
cialists of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  that  are  in  the 
habit  of  chiseling  out  their  archives  with  such  a  degree  of 
minuteness  and  upon  such  imperishable  material  as  was 
habitual  with  the  ancient  eranoi  and  sodalicia. 

It  is  true,  we  are  making  so  profound  an  impression  that 

friendly  aocieties  of  Great  Britain  have  become,  since  the  repeal  of  the  conspir 
acy  laws  in  1824,  genuine  trade  unions  of  the  best  pattern.  During  the  exist 
ence  of  i he  cruel  law  of  Elizabeth  they  maintained  the  title  of  friendly  and 
burial  societies  almost  exactly  like  the  colleges  anil  cranes. 

I:'  Mr.  H.  Thompkins'  pamphlet  on  the  Fritndly  Societies  of  Antiquity.    Lon- 
don. 1807. 


WROTE  THEIR  HISTORY  ON  THE  STONES.     451 

the  histories  and  printed  records  of  our  existence  and  of  our 
important  transactions  are  slowly  becoming  a  possible  thing; 
and  such  records  may  possibly  save  us  from  oblivion ;  but 
the  true  and  thorough  histriographer  of  the  labor  move- 
ments of  the  world  has  a  broad  and  attractive  field — not 
yet  all  laid  open — in  the  study,  and  interpretation  of  the 
multitudes  of  reliefs,  anaglyphs,  and  other  queer  paleographs 
upon  slabs,  urns,  amphorse  and  such  objects  of  those  by-gone 
ages ;  a  work  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  archaeologist  to 
develop  and  complete.  The  truth  is,  the  history  of  labor 
has  been  neglected ;  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  very 
nearly  all  of  that  which  in  this  more  propitious  age  is  at- 
tracting profound  consideration  by  the  wise  and  benevolent, 
has  been  gone  over  and  tried,  amid  the  vicissitudes  of  wars 
and  other  antagonisms  of  the  outside  competitive  world,  more 
than  two  thousand  years  ago. 

But  the  fact  that  their  non-  competitive  plan  failed  of  gen- 
eral adoption  need  not  be  adduced  as  an  argument  against 
them.  They  seem  to  have  been  very  successful  so  far  as 
they  were  intended  to  apply.  They  were  trade  unions  for 
the  most  part  among  the  mechanics  and  laboring  people ; 
and  so  far  as  their  societies  concerned  them,  they  succeeded. 
It  had  not  become  particularly  a  broad  question.  When, 
however,  Christ  took  up  the  principle  of  community  of  in- 
terests involved  in  their  tenets,  and  organized  his  system  of 
advocacy,  their  immediately  arose  upon  it  a  world-wide 
culture  and  an  opposition;  because  this  threatened  the  over- 
throw of  the  competism  which  has  always  been  the  basis  of 
both  social  and  political  economy. 

That  the  communes,  called  the  eranoi  in  Greece,  the  Gre- 
cian Archipelago,  Asia  Minor  and  Egypt,  in  the  Greek 
tongue,  and  the  collegia,  sodalicia  or  coetus  in  the  Latin, 
were  the  chief  cause  and  originators  of  Christendom,  we 
can,  after  mature  reflection,  entertain  little  doubt. 

Already  faint  glimpses  of  proof  are  extant  that  the  prin- 
ciple or  thesis  of  our  modern  community  of  interests,  "  no 
excellence  without  unity  in  labor,"  and  that  "endless  toil 
in  collecting  good,  both  by  experiment  and  observation," 
which  is  now  giving  preponderance  to  Aristotle's  philosophy 
over  that  of  Plato,  is  significantly  crowding  Christianity 
out  from  the  impractical  self-denying  school  of  St.  Jerome, 
back  into  its  primeval  socialism,  or  non-compeiism,  in  the 


452  THE  COUNTLESS  COMMUNES. 

defense  of  which  Jesus,  Nestor,  and  a  thousand  others  have 
suffered. 

Fortunately  for  us,  the  ancient  trade  unions  were  in  the 
habit  not  only  of  writing  their  minutes  and  preserving  them 
in  their  own  archives,  in  each  state  where  they  existed  but 
many  of  the  great  events  were  further  inscribed  either  in 
alto,  demi  or  basso-relievo;  and  many  times  this  was  done 
on  marble  or  good  blue  or  sand-stone,  which  has  withstood 
all  the  erosions  of  time. 

In  some  places,  as  at  the  Piraeus  the  ancient  seaport  of 
Athens,  in  the  Isle  of  Santorin,  in  Rhodes  and  in  Asia  Minor, 
the  societies  were  very  numerous.  It  is  a  well  known  fact 
that  during  the  period  of  the  existence  of  these  nations, 
ranging  about  58  years  before  Christ  down  to  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Alexandrian  archives  by  Theophilus  and  St. 
Cyril,  about  A.  D.  414,  the  laws  against  these  poor  people 
and  their  organizations  where  almost  whimsically  severe. 
M.  Renan  says  of  the  Roman  communes,  that  there  waa 
still  less  favor  here  given  the  disinherited  classes  than  in 
other  countries.  During  the  Roman  Republic,  in  the  "  af- 
fair of  the  Bacchanales,"  186  years  before  Christ,  the  policy 
of  Rome  on  the  subject  of  these  associations  had  first  been 
proclaimed." 

It  was  the  nature  of  the  Roman  people  to  cleave  to  fra- 
ternizing organizations,  and  especially  to  those  of  a  religi- 
ous character.  This  kind  of  association,  however,  was  hate- 
ful to  tha  patricians — the  dispensers  of  the  political  power 
— who  recognized  the  family  and  the  state  in  actual  force, 
as  the  correct  social  group.  These  patricians  took  the 
minutest  precautions  against  allowing  the  plebians  the  scope 
of  developing  into  a  counter  power.  They  had  to  be  scru- 
pulously authorized  before  they  could  become  an  associa- 
tion— probably  by  charter.  They  could  not  appoint  a  per- 
manent president  or  magister  eacrorum.  The  number  of 
their  members  had  to  be  limited.  The  meanest  restrictions 
were  enacted  against  their  accumulating  too  large  a  fund 
for  their  commune.  Similar  peevishness  continued  against 
the  disinherited  classes  during  the  existence  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  The  archives  of  the  law  contained  every  imagin- 
able provision  for  the  repression  of  their  growth. 

14  So  we  find  the  great  social  wars  or  the  rebellions  of  slaves,  assisted  by  the 
unemployed  original  inhabitants,  to  have  raged  from  about  this  same  period. 


NAMES  AND   DUTIES   OF   OFFICERS.         453 

M.  Renan  further  asserts  that  the  Syrians  gathered  into 
these  societies  inoculating  them  with  opinions  which  the 
patricians  vainly  sought  to  destroy.  The  Revue  Archeolo- 
gique  says  that  there  was  a  "  contest  of  opinions  between 
the  communes  and  the  patricians,''  which  is  very  natiiral; 
since  the  whole  gist  of  the  former  was  to  do  away  with 
competism  and  the  system  of  intermediary  commission  men 
depended  upon,  by  the  patricians,  as  a  principle  for  their 
very  existence. 

The  Greek  societies  are  known  by  inscriptions  now  in  the 
Archaeological  Museum  at  Athens,  to  have  had  the  follow- 
ing officers: 

1.  Three  presiding  officers — of  both  sexes :  (a)  the  presi- 
dent (prostates),  male ;  and  (b)  the  guardian  in  charge  (pro- 
eranistria),  female.     They  had  also,  (c)  a  president  of  finance 
(archer -anistes). 

2.  A  stewardess  or  housewife  (lamia). 

3.  A  manager  or  trustee ;  of  whom,  doubtless  each  era- 
nos  or  union  had  more  than  one  (cpimeletes).      There  are 
evidences  that  the  functions  of  this  important  office  were 
divided  among  the  men  and  women  of  the  union. 

4  The  recording  secretary  or  scribe  who  wrote  the  min- 
utes for  the  archives  (grammateus). 

5.  Lawyers  (sundikoi),  whose  exclusive  business  was  to 
watch  and  defend  the  society  and  its  members,  individually 
as  well  as  collectively,  against  the  persecution  of  the  outside 
competitive  world  which  was  always  too  prone  to  enforce 
any  one  of  the  many  repressive  and  intolerant  laws  and 
measures  above  referred  to,  against  them. 

6.  The  manager  of  religious  rites  (hieropoios). 

7.  Priest,  one  who  attended  to  the  religious  ceremonies 
or  rites  (hierokeryx). 

A  glance  at  ancient  mythology  will  show  that  a  great 
many  isms,  creeds  or  denominations  existed  in  hierarchical 
affairs ;  and  that  the  power  of  each  was  nearly  coequal  so 
far  as  political  and  social  status  or  respectability  was  con- 
cerned. All  seem  to  have  been  shielded  by  the  law  of  the 
land.  So  the  communes  took  refuge  under  the  favors 
of  religious  discipline,  and  are  known  to  have  been  obliged 
to  do  so  to  keep  themselves  reconciled  to  their  persecutors. 
By  these  tactics  and  by  the  smartness  of  their  own  lawyers, 
who  gave  their  time  to  the  labor  of  love,  they  kept  the  hoa- 


454  THE   COUNTLESS    COMMUNES. 

tile  and  restringent  clauses  of  the  law  a  "  dead  letter,"  in 
epite  of  the  patricians  and  optimates.  M.  Renan  and 
others  declare  that  there  were  radical  "  differences  of  opin- 
ion "  on  the  part  of  the  unions  all  through  those  centuries. 
The  truth  is,  that  then,  as  now,  their  very  existence  was  an 
organized  socialistic  state,  though  of  a  low  order. 

We  find  that  some  of  the  eranoi  or  Greek-speaking  com- 
munities worshiped,  and  even  dedicated  themselves  to  one 
god  with  its  peculiar  litany,  some  to  another.  Here  is  a 
translation  from  the  very  slab  or  "  stone  tablet "  referred  to 
in  the  command  of  the  decree,  which  strangely  enough,  has 
survived  all  the  ages  since  the  beginning  of  the  third  cen- 
tury before  Christ.  On  looking  it  over,  who  shall  doubt  that 
this  was  a  great  and  perhaps  wealthy  community,  in  every 
way  respectable?  It  was  dedicated  to  the  mythical  god, 
Jupiter,  and  chronicles  the  fact  clearer  than  the  recusant 
historian  could  have  done  upon  papyrus,  that  it  was  an 
honorable  and  responsible  body,  and  in  nowise  allied  to 
the  bawdy  erotomania  that  inspired  the  orgies  of  earlier 
origin  and  that  formed  the  subject  matter  of  Anacreon's 
dithyrambics  and  the  voluptuous  bacchanalian  ditties  of 
Pindar.  This  translation  is  clipped  verbatim  from  Mr. 
Henry  Tompkin's  pamphlet.15  "It  has  been  proposed: 
seeing  that  Menis,  son  of  Mnistheus,  of  Heraclea,  is  full 
of  good  will  toward  the  thiasotes,  and  of  zeal  for  the  tem- 
ple, that  at  present,  being  treasurer,  appointed  under  the 

archontate  of he  has  fulfilled  that  charge  with  zeal 

and  honesty;  that  he  has  finished  the  portico  and  the  front 
of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Lebraundos  in  a  manner  wprtb.y 
of  the  god;  that  he  has  managed  the  common  funds  with 
honesty  and  justice,  and  that  to  all  the  thiasotes  he  has 
been  irreproachable  both  before  and  after  taking  office  as 
treasurer ;  that  he  has  not  hesitated  to  add  his  own  money 
toward  the  expenses  of  the  temple,  showing  thus,  in  an 
evident  manner  the  good  will  that  he  has  for  the  thiasotes, 
and  that  he  has  fulfilled  the  sacerdotal  office  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  the  god.  For  all  these  things  the  thiasotes 
have  decreed  to  award  a  vote  of  thanks  (eulogium)  to 
Menis,  son  of  Mnistheus,  of  Heraclea  ;  to  crown  him  with 
a  chaplet  of  foliage ;  to  consecrate,  in  a  part  of  the  tem- 
ple where  it  will  be  best  seen,  his  likeness,  painted  on  a 

«  For  the  original  See  Re\i.  AtrMologique  Paper  by  M.  Wescher. 


SPECIMENS  OF  GREEK  COMMUNES.          455 

piece  of  wood,  according  to  law,  in  order  to  show  to  all 
those  who  wish  to  prove  their  zeal  toward  the  temple  what 
honors  they  may  obtain,  each  one  according  to  the  good 
he  may  be  able  to  do  for  the  thiasotes ;  and  to  engrave 
this  decree  on  a  stone  tablet,  and  to  place  it  in  the  tem- 
ple of  the  god." 

We  have  proved  in  our  own  mind  that  the  thiasoi  whose 
members,  the  thiasotes,  paraded  in  the  open  streets,  "danc- 
ing in  honor  of  the  gods,"  were  identical  with  the  secret 
eranoi  who  met  much  oftener  to  enjoy  their  meals,  con- 
vivials,  discussions  and  social  pleasures  in  common  and  to 
contrive  for  each  other  situations  to  work.  The  eranoi 
were  much  less  known,  though  their  purpose  was  far 
more  significant. "  They  met  from  two  to  four  times  a 
month  to  transact  business  and  to  discuss  their  "  differ- 
ence of  opinion."  It  was  here  that  the  above  mentioned 
officers  felt  the  responsibility  of  their  functions.  The 
treasurer  was  of  so  much  importance  that  he  was  called 
president  of  finance.  Doubtless  the  male  president  (pros- 
trates) was  considered  to  outrank  the  female  president 
(pro&ranistia),  if  indeed  the  aristocratic  idea  of  ranks  was 
permitted  to  enter  the  commune.  The  number  and  im- 
portance of  the  offices  seem  to  have  resembled  those  of 
the  Patrons  of  Husbandry,  or  Knights  of  Labor. 

We  are  unable,  as  yet,  to  determine  exactly  what  class 
of  women  it  was  who  shared  the  communistic  proletarian 
societies  of  Greece  and  the  Greek-speaking  inhabitants 
under  trade  union  laws  daring  the  power  of  the  Greek 
philosophies,  but  are  of  opinion  that  they  were  of  the  two 
most  respectable  classes  recognized  by  law.  It  is  quite 
certain  that  their  movements  at  Athens  were  watched  by 
the  Areopagus  or  court  of  Mars,  whose  jurisdiction  was 
over  criminal  cases  and  public  order  and  decency.  The 
two  classes  were  the  wives  of  mechanics,  their  daughters, 
and  the  aulitrides  who  made  their  living  by  playing  the 
flute.  It  is  almost  certain  that  the  wonderful,  coexistent 
class  of  women  known  as  the  hetairai  also  participated  in 
these  Eranoi  as  members.  But  to  prove  that  the  a*<Je- 
trides  frequented  them  we  give  a  translation  of  a  Greek 

le  Athenacue,  Deipnasophislai,  VIII.  "Epavoi  W  ciVivai  aitkTuv  o\  j»5aAAoM«- 
t'upciaa'ywyat,  airo  TOV  avvtpav  itoi  <rvn<f>tpftv  tKaaroi*'  xaAclrci  S«  6  avros  K  .-.  >  ayo* 
:ai  dtacrot  *oc  6i  avpiovTcf  tpavitrrai  <tal  avpdiairuroi. 


456  THE    COUNTLESS    COMMUNES. 

inscription  cut  in  marble,  edged  with  bas  reliefs.  It  is  of 
the  Roman  epoch  and  is  from  the  Isle  of  Santorin  in  the 
Grecian  Archipelago,  not  far  from  Nio.  As  Santorinwas 
an  agricultural  country  they  might  have  been  mostly  cul- 
tivators. No  matter  how  repressive  and  intolerant  the 
laws,  they  could  not  disband.  It  is  a  slab  first  observed 
at  Athens  by  the  Archaeologist  M.  Wescher,  in  which  the 
eranoi  fairly  unveil  their  secrecy  and  come  out  hi  their 
own  name.  Before  giving  the  rendering  of  the  inscrip- 
tion, however,  we  beg  to  paint  as  we  conceive  it,  a  picture 
of  ancient  competitive  h'fe  which  formed  the  basis  of 
Greek  society.  It  ran  to  the  extent  of  gambling;  and  the 
ethics  of  society  may  be  said  to  have  been  fixed  by  law  and 
public  opinion  at  little  higher  than  the  gamblers'  code. 
Society  outside  the  eranoi  and  the  thiasoi  was  a  vast 
gambling  hell;  and  the  long  existence  of  the  associations, 
we  can  account  for  in  no  other  way  than  that  they  in  their 
secret  recesses  possessed  a  charmed  circle.  It  was  the 
infinite  love  that  emanates  from  the  infinite  difference 
marked  by  the  gulf  yawning  between  competitive  frater- 
nal life. "  The  poor  Greek  working  people  must  have  felt 
all  this  difference. 

Let  anyone  imagine  himself  obliged  to  contemplate  the 
fashionable  logic  of  a  gambling  den :  A  number  of  peo- 
ple sit  round  a  table,  each  with  his  pile  of  gold,  the  sum 
of  which  is  the  stake  involved.  There  is  skill  there. 
There  is  also  genuine  talent.  Brilliant  aptitudes  in  one, 
in  the  choice  of  cards  or  dice ;  intuition  in  another,  to 
catch  and  forestall  a  niggling  thought  and  checkmate  a 
winning  deal ;  shrewdness  in  a  third  at  the  study  of  fea- 
tures and  in  the  reading  of  their  inadvertent  language; 
and  in  a  fourth,  tact  to  swoop  in  the  sum  of  the  aces 
against  the  competitors.  There  is  no  mutual  adaptation 
of  these  natural  gifts  to  a  common  good.  These  are  the 
non-productive  adornments  in  the  "  code's  "  diplomacy.  In 
the  usages  of  the  gambler  opinion  has  fixed  a  sort  of 
reckless  general  law  that  acts  as  each  gambler's  guide ; 
and  to  obey  this  law  is  to  conform  to  the  ethics  of  a  code 
which  is  the  competitor's  idea  of  duty.  The  duty  of  each, 

"  Aristotle  lived  apparently  in  daily  contact  with  these  communes  and  seems 
to  have  been  influenced  by  them  .  .  .  cVioi  &<  KOttwriMV  Si  rjSoviaJjr  iofcoOac.  yivi 
t»ac,  dia.<ju>Tuiv  Kai  cparicrruv  avrai  yap  dvcrta;  cfexaxai  uvyovjiav.  Ethics,  VIII.  II 


GAMBLING  HELLS  OF  COMPETITION.      457 

Avhether  in  the  exigency  of  the  winning,  or  of  the  losing 
game,  is  to  behave  with  decency.  Such  are  the  ethics  at 
the  gambling  stakes  and  each  must  conform. 

The  excitement  of  the  competitive  game  goes  on.  The 
lookers-on  forget  self,  home  and  duty  in  their  admiration 
of  the  contestants'  skill.  Their  variety  of  method,  their 
quivering  versatility,  their  genius,  bold  of  one,  delicate  of 
another,  exhilarate  as  they  amaze.  But  when  the  one 
more  skilled  in  gaming  or  more  favored  in  fortuity,  sweeps 
the  stakes  and  stalks  off  in  triumph  with  the  gold  of  his 
helpless  neighbors,  there  must  come  a  reaction  of  feeling, 
though  the  rules  of  the  gambling  table  require  resigna- 
tion. The  defeated  need  not  try  to  hide  discomfiture.  A. 
hungry  wife  and  children,  blighted  hopes,  baffled  plans 
and  chagrin,  beget  despair.  They  are  the  conjurers  of  dis- 
trust, jealousy,  vengeance,  hate,  suicide.  Even  the  winner 
dies  in  misery;  for  a  little  selfish  ecstasy  adds  nothing 
to  the  sum  of  a  life's  possibilities  and  joys.  He  is  often 
the  next  victim  in  the  shifting  vicissitudes  of  the  trade. 

Now  this  is  a  fair  picture  of  that  hell  which  constituted 
ancient  society.  The  household,  the  shambles  of  volup- 
tuous commerce  and  of  deal,  the  judiciary  and  the  war- 
spirit  were  so  many  sheols  of  licensed  competism  reeking 
with  a  virus  of  the  gambler's  code  and  intolerant  of  this 
socialism  of  the  poor.  Unfortunately  it  is  too  exact  a  pic- 
ture of  the  maudlin  present ;  but  the  present  we  are  not 
dealing  with. 

Society  was  a  vast  concern  in  which  fashions,  means 
and  fine  things  were  huckstered  and  raffled  from  hand  to 
hand ;  and  then  as  now,  the  working  classes  or  proletariat 
were  the  sensitive  target  which  every  club  of  misguided 
genius  bruised  and  imbruted. 

The  discovery,  then,  of  unquestionable  proof  that  there 
existed  comtemporaneously  with  this  outside  state  of 
things  an  order  of  human  association  whose  code  of  ethics, 
or  whose  accepted  opinion  of  duty,  one  to  another,  was 
the  antithesis  of  this ;  whose  rule  of  home  and  labor  was 
based  deep  in  that  love  and  mutual  protection  which  af- 
terwards became  the  doctrine  of  salvation  as  proclaimed 
by  a  greater  teacher,88  is  a  triumph  glorius  and  incalcula- 

18  Plato,  Aristotle  and  Socrates  were  all  deeplv  touched  by  the  brotherly  love 
of  the  innumerable  eranists  whose  works  though  hnmble  were  followed  by  them 


458  TEE  COUNTLESS    COMMUNES. 

ble  to  the  struggling,  disjointed  love  of  the  labor  move- 
ment to-day.  The  fragment  at  Athens  referred  to  is  a 
piece  of  blue  Hymettian  marble  with  little  border  work. 
The  inscription  is  in  plain  Attic  Greek  of  the  Aristotelian 
epoch,  and  its  translation  from  the  Revue  Archeologique, 
is  as  follows: 

"  By  a  rulable  and  just  administration  of  the  common 
fund  of  money  belonging  to  the  community  of  eranistai, 
and  having  ever  conducted  himself  with  kindness  and 
with  honesty;  and  as  he  has  righteously  husbanded  the 
funds  successively  paid  by  the  eranistai  themselves,  as 
well  as  the  annual  subscription,  according  to  the  law  of 
the  eranos ;  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  everything 
else  he  still  continues  to  show  integrity  to  the  oath  which 
he  swore  to  the  eranistai,  therefore  Hail  Alcmeon ! 

"The  community  of  the  erareistai  rejoice  to  praise 
Alcmeon,  son  of  Theon,  a  stranger  who  has  been  natur- 
alized— their  president  of  finance  (archer anistes);  and  do 
crown  him  with  a  chaplet  of  foliage  because  of  his  faith- 
fulness and  good  will  to  them.  They  are  moreover  re- 
joiced and  praise  the  trustees  (epimaletai)  and  also  the 
hieropoioi  of  Jupiter  the  Savior,  and  of  Hercules,  and  of 
the  Savior  of  the  gods.  And  they  crown  each  of  them 
with  the  wreath  of  honor  because  of  their  virtue  and  their 
lively  interest  in  the  community  of  the  eranistai." 

The  stone  is  here  broken,  leaving  us  in  the  dark  as  to 
the  exact  date  of  this  interesting  relic.  The  principle 
however,  upon  which  this  eranos  was  conducted,  accept- 
ing the  signification  given  this  word  by  lexicographers 
and  writers  of  the  adverse  school,  was  communism — means 
taxed  from  a  common  membership  for  mutual  support. 
This  settled,  we  next  ask:  did  such  an  experiment  thrive  ? 
The  above  inscription  is  full  of  praises  and  rejoicing  over 
its  success.  Then  if  it  did  succeed,  and  if  in  conjunction 
with  it,  it  is  made  clear  that  the  less  secret  jubilees  of  the 
thiasoi  furnished  means  out  of  the  same  well-husbanded 
fund,  for  the  sweet  convivials,  and  the  dance,  to  the  fam- 
ous music  of  the  female  flute-players,  did  not  this  "  com- 
munity of  the  eranistai "  greatly  augment  for  the  "  disin- 
herited classes,"  the  means  of  happiness  and  viiiue1? 

all.  Liiders  commenting,  quotes  Socrates  from  Xenojihon,  Conversation/a  VIII. 
'•  Wir  siud  ja  alle  Thiasoten  deses  gottes.1'  Uhig  passage  gives  btoim1  fv \U-nce 
that  Socrates  was  a  member  of  a  commune. 


SOCRATES  A  MEMBER    OF  A  COMMUNE.  459 

These  are  important  conjectures  coming  from  the  un- 
written mists  of  the  finest  of  the  world's  ages  of  antiquity. 
Let  the  ethnologist  and  the  paleontologist  divest  them- 
selves of  bias,  and  with  these  new  skeletons  of  ancient 
history  remodel  and  reproduce  an  ethologic  anatomy  of 
these  two  great  rivals  for  power — individualism  and  com- 
munal love.  For  if  the  desired  means  of  happiness  was 
procured  through  this  one  experiment  of  whose  relics  we 
have  given  a  rendering,  then  it  is  evident  by  the  many 
other  similar  inscriptions  that  a  thousand  such  microcosms 
embellished  the  morals  and  gladdened  the  hearts  of  slaves 
and  outcasts. 

These  microcosms  of  a  far  future  society  must  not,  how- 
ever, be  supposed  to  have  been  as  sweeping  or  as  pure  in 
their  radicalism  as  some  that  are  developing  at  the  present 
time ;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  though  the  ignor- 
ance of  the  present  age  is  averse  to  the  implanting  of  a 
system  which  means  introversion  and  revolution  of  com- 
petitive disassociation,  yet  we  possess  at  least  the  boon  of 
tolerance  which  was  almost  utterly  denied  the  struggling 
poor  of  those  times. 

According  to  the  best  information  to  be  had  regarding 
inscriptions  that  are  resuscitating  the  history  of  the  an- 
cient proletaries,  the  societies  called  the  eranoi  and  the 
thiasoi  were  by  no  means  confined  to  the  Hellenic  Penin- 
sula and  the  Ionian  and  Grecian  Archipelagoes.  Similar 
societies  are  known  to  have  existed  both  on  the  continent 
of  Asia  and  of  Africa.  Mommsen,  Orelli,  Bockh  and  other 
archaeologists,  in  their  Latin  works  of  Descriptiones  Re- 
liquarum,  have  filled  thousands  of  folio  pages  with  sketches 
of  all  sorts  of  paleographs  which  are  fac-similes  of  inscrip- 
tions, monograms,  escutcheons  and  many  kinds  of  hiero- 
glyphic and  anaglyphic  gravery  and  embossing  in  stone 
and  metal.  These  curious  things  are  being  dug  up  in 
different  parts  of  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa,  wherever  an- 
cient history  speaks  of  the  doings  of  men. 

Great  numbers  are  described  that  have  come  from  Dal- 
matia,  the  rivers  and  plains  of  Austria,  Hungary  and  the 
Kranish  provinces.  They  exist  in  countries  once  occu- 
pied by  the  Armenians,  Phoenicians  and  Chaldeans;  and 
as  it  is  now  becoming  apparent  that  the  most  correct  phi- 
losophies of  the  Alexandrians  and  Athenians  were  first 


460  THE  COUNTLESS   COMMUNES. 

inspired  by  Indians  of  the  east,  it  is  possible  that  great 
revelations  are  yet  forthcoming  from  the  Hindoo  school, 
of  which  the  Sankhya  Kapila  was  the  inspiring  oracle. 
But  however  this  may  be — whether  Buddhism  was,  or  was 
not  the  idiosyncrasy  that  germinated  the  every-growing 
schism  among  dialecticians  of  all  succeeding  ages,  it  mat- 
ters little. 

One  thing  is  certain  in  our  mind :  that  the  societies  of 
self-help  among  the  proletaries  have  uniformly  followed 
the  grouping,  self-teaching,  perpiatetic  method  of  Aristo- 
tle and  Kapila,  while  their  competitive  enemies  and  per- 
secutors have  followed  the  dreamy,  non-practical  Olym- 
pus-beclouded generalities  of  Plato.  The  communities 
always  worked  well  under  Numa,  Solon,  Jesus  and  Nestor, 
but  always  suffered  under  Lycurgus,  Appius  Claudius, 
Csesar  and  Cyril.  If  the  strange  and  newly  unearthed 
library  of  Asshurbanipal,  who  was  emperor  of  the  Assyr- 
ians a  thousand  years  before  Christ,  is  ever  scanned  in 
a  non-prejudical  spirit,  its  ideographs  and  its  history  of 
their  systems  of  nomenclature,  computation  and  collec- 
tion may  be  found  suggestive  of  similar  doings. 

We  have  already  said  something  concerning  the  rules 
and  by-laws  of  the  societies,  which  by  the  marble  tablet 
whereon  their  records  are  graven,  are  known  to  have 
existed.  As  a  general  thing  these  decrees  and  regulations 
are  made  on  the  stones  that  still  honor  some  of  the  offi- 
cers. Although  the  evident  object  of  each  of  these  or- 
ganizations was  to  enlarge  the  means  of  happiness  of  the 
members  by  providing  liberties  for  them  through  the  as- 
sociative sphere  of  the  collectivity,  and  may  be  said  on 
this  account  to  have  been  temporal  in  their  objects,  yet 
they  all  partook  strongly  of  some  religious  faith  incul- 
cated at  the  services  of  the  gods  in  the  temples. 

Some  writers  upon  the  subject  are  convinced  that  they 
resembled  the  old  semi-religious  guilds  of  trade  in  Eng- 
land. They  also  intimate  that  like  the  continental  guilds 
for  a  similar  object,  connected  with  the  Roman  Catholic 
•Church,  they  seem  to  have  been  under  the  patronage  of 
a  tutelary  saint,  and  that  under  this  tutelage  they  some- 
times founded  industrial,  commercial  and  maratime  cor- 
porations. Sometimes  they  made  it  a  specialty  to  aid  each 
other  in  acquiring  a  profession.  Our  own  opinion  is,  that 


FORM   OF   THE  MEETINGS.  461 

they  were  a  genuine  type  of  the  trade  union.19  The  evi- 
dences of  this  are  many  ;  and  it  is  no  argument  against 
the  position  if  they  are  found  to  have  been  religious. 

The  objections  will  be,  that  they  opened  their  sessions 
with  prayer,  and  that  they  admitted  women  in  large  num- 
bers. But  some  of  our  own  trade  unions  undergo  forms 
similar  to  prayer  and  Bible  reading.  As  to  their  having 
had  women  as  members  it  only  proves  that  they  were 
trade  unions  of  a  higher,  more  long-lived  and  a  more  suc- 
cessful development  than  these  of  the  present  day  ;  and 
this  brings  us  to  the  sad  reflection  that  with  all  the  boast 
of  modern  trade  unionists  and  all  the  good  they  are  do- 
ing, and  with  all  their  philosophy  and  practical  forcing  of 
the  true  political  economy  upon  governments,  they  still 
fail  to  equal  the  judgment  of  the  trade  unionists  of  Greece, 
who  based  their  associations  upon  co-operation  for  peace 
ful,  rather  than  co-operation  for  aggressive  self  help. 
Another  resemblance  to  the  trade  unions  is  seen  in  their 
extreme  secrecy. 

"  The  meetings  of  these  pre-Christian  societies  opened 
with  prayer  ;  after  which  came  the  general  business.  The 
place  at  which  they  were  held  was  called  the  synod,  or 
sometimes  the  Synagogue,  and  the  assembly  was  abso- 
lutely secret  —  no  stranger  could  be  admitted,  and  a  severe 
code  maintained  order  thereat.  They  were  held,  it  ap- 
pears, in  enclosed  gardens  surrounded  with  porticos,  or 
piazzas  or  little  arbors,  in  the  middle  of  which  the  altar 
of  sacrifice  was  erected.  The  officers  made  the  candidates 
for  membership  submit  to  a  sort  of  examination,  and  they 
had  to  certify  that  they  were  'holy,  pious  and  good.' 
There  was  in  these  little  confraternities,  during  the  two 
or  three  centuries  that  preceded  the  Christian  era,  a 
movement  which  was  almost  as  varied  as  that  which  pro- 
duced in  the  middle  ages  so  many  religious  orders  and 
so  many  sub-divisions  of  these  orders.  Very  many  have 
been  counted  in  the  single  island  of  Rhodes,  of  which 
several  bear  the  names  of  their  founders  or  of  their  re- 
formers. Several  of  these  confraternities,  especially  that 
of  Bacchus,  had  sublime  and  elevated  doctrines  ;  and  en- 
deavered  with  a  good  will  to  give  to  mankind  some  con- 


i»  The  reasons  for  their  being  often  religions  and  borrowing  pods  or 
lary  duties  are  explained  in  our  chapter  on  the  Koman  trade  unions,  q.  v. 


tute- 


462 


eolation.  If  there  still  remained  in  the  Greek  world  any 
love,  any  piety,  any  religious  morality,  it  was  owing  to 
the  liberty  granted  to  such  private  religious  doctrines. 
The  doctrines  competed  in  some  measure  with  the  official 
religion,  the  decline  of  which  became  more  evident  day 
by  day."20 

But  it  must  not  be  inferred  because  the  eranoi,  or  Greek- 
speaking  unions  took  the  name  of  the  particular  god  they 
venerated,  that  they  were  exclusively  religious. 

The  archaeologist,  Hamilton,  has  produced  fac-similes 
of  inscriptions  on  slabs  that  were  found  on  the  shores  of 
the  Gulf  of  Symi.  The  translation  of  one  runs  thus : 

"Alexander,  of  Cephalonia,  has  been  honored  with  the 
gift  of  a  crown  of  gold,  and  also  Nisa,  his  virtuous  wife, 
of  Cos.  This  honor  is  given  by  the  Adoniastes,  Aphro- 
diastes  and  the  Asclepiastes.  Bpaphrodite  and  his  wife, 
by  wish  of  the  Heroistes  and  of  the  Aeaciastes,  have  also 
been  honored  with  a  golden  crown." 

These  Adoniastes,  Aphrodiastes,  Asclepiastes,  etc.,  were 
eranoi,  whose  union  was,  on  account  of  the  peculiar  religi- 
ous notions  of  the  members  and  of  the  country,  dedicated 
respectively  to  the  gods  Adonis,  Aphrodite,  Esculapia, 
etc.  Another  inscription  taken  from  Ross's  Inscriptiones 
Greques,"  is  also  very  interesting  as  proof  that  these  so- 
cieties were  usually  dedicated  to  the  popular  gods  of  the 
mythic  hierarchy  of  Mount  Olympus. 

It  is  valuable  as  a  proof  of  the  general  position  assumed, 
on  account  of  its  bold  mention  of  union  and  confraternity 
thus  showing  that  it  belonged  to  the  eranian  and  thiasian 
school  of  co-operation  or  trade  unionism.  It  is  from  Rhodes, 
and  is  somewhat  defaced.  Here  is  the  rendering  as  given 
in  Mr.  Tompkins'  review:  "*  *  *  crowned  with  a  crown  of 
gold  by  the  community  of  Jupiter  Xenos,  the  Dionysiates 
Chseremoniens,  as  well  as  by  the  Panatheniastes  and  the 
******  crowned  with  a  crown  of  gold  by  the  Soteri- 
astes  (worshipers  of  the  Soter,  or  Messiah,  the  confraternity 
of  Jupiter  Xenos,  and  that  of  Minerva  Lindienne,  followers 
of  Caius,  crowned  with  a  crown  of  foliage  by  the  commu- 
nity of  Jupiter  Atabyritm  and  the  Agathodncnioniastos  Phi- 
loniens,  as  well  as  by  the  community  of  Dionysiastes  Cluorc- 
moeiens  and  by  that  of  Appollo." 

to  Tompkins,  Friendly  SwAeHtt  of  Antiquity.  «  Ketearches  in  Asia  Minor 


MANAGED   BY    WOMEN.  463 

This  date  "in  the  year  178"  is  supposed  to  mean  the 
178th  year  of  the  existence  of  this  union.  Here  we  have, 
in  the  midst  of  the  lady  members  of  this  old  and  probably 
rich  and  respectable  eranos,  or  union  and  at  the  public  feast 
or  monthly  sociable  in  the  enclosed  garden  that  always  dis- 
tinguished the  open  thiasoi  from  the  secret  business  meet- 
ing of  the  eranoi,  a  flute-player;  in  all  probability  one  of  the 
famous  auletrides  whose  charms  are  celebrated  by  Alciphron, 
AthennKus  and  Theopompus;  and  of  whom  a  writer  in  his 
work  on  prostitution,  unconsciously  intimates  that  they 
were  abandons 23  and  would  doubtless  construe  it  so  as  to 
make  this  feast  no  nobler  than  the  callipygian  games,  which 
though  unfrequented  by  men  must  have  been,  of  course, 
"  scandalous."  May  not  anything  be  scandalous  when  re- 
garded in  a  censorious  and  uncharitable  light.  But  this 
feast  of  the  Communists  described  was  nothing  of  the  sort. 

This  invaluable  memento  is  in  good  care  and  preservation 
in  the  museum  at  Athens.  On  the  bas-relief  are  these  sug- 
gestive figures:  A  god  and  a  goddess  in  an  enclosed  garden. 
It  is  Cybile  the  Phrygian  goddess  who  sits  with  her  head 
crowned.  In  front  of  her  crouches  a  lion  ?  The  god  is 
Apollo  in  a  flowing  robe  and  in  a  standing  attitude,  lie 
has  a  salver  (patera)  in  one  hand  and  a  lyre  iu  the  other. 
There  is  a  priestess  or  proeanistria  standing,  and  a  musi- 
cian or  auletrid  is  playing  the  flute.**  A  lamb  for  the  feast 
is  in  the  arms  of  a  young  man.  Under  this  is  the  inscrip- 
tion of  which  the  following  is  the  translation. 

a  Stratonice,  daughter  of  Menecrates,  is  crowned  by  the 
members,  men  and  women,  of  this  thiasos.  In  the  year  178 
she  (Stratonice)  was  female  president  of  the  club  (proeran- 
istria),  a  crown  of  foliage  is  decreed  lier  and  a  marble  tablet 
ornamented  with  banderoles  to  honor  her  public  proclama- 
tion in  the  assembly  of  Jupiter  in  honor  of  her  virtue." 

It  is  not  only  interesting  but  extremely  useful  as  an  ex- 
ample for  the  guidance  of  future  society,  that  we  be  made 
acquainted  with  some  of  the  inner  and  unrecorded  life  of 
antiquity.  The  same  turbulent  warlike  millions  swarmed 
the  cities  and  thoroughfares  then,  as  now.  The  same  unor- 
ganized and  inequitable  methods  of  production  and  appor- 

M  Sangera,  History  of  Prostitution,  p.  46. 

«  See  also  Tafel  II.  Ltiders,  Die  IXonysitchcn  KUnster.  Ivxplanation  of  the 
plates,  8.  10-11. 


464  THE   COUNTLESS   COMMUNES. 

tionment.  The  same  egoism  and  sacrifice  of  neighbor  for 
aggrandizement  of  self,  and  the  same  intolerance  and  big- 
otry in  prevailing  faiths  that  inspire  the  competing  Muscovite 
Russians  against  the  Rural  Solidarities,  the  Mennonities  and 
the  Dutchobors  to-day — the  same  selfishness  that  makes 
man  hate  man,  and  church  hate  church  wherever  we  go. 
In  this  prodigious  whirlpool  of  self-serving  negativeness  and 
ignorance — the  painful,  tiresome  desert  through  which  all 
proletarian  humanity  plods,  it  is  gratifying  to  discover  that 
a  great  counter  element  once  existed  with  organizations 
based  upon  that  community  of  equal  interests  which  is  fund- 
amentally revolutionizing  the  policies  of  our  own  brilliant, 
but  depraved  and  selfish  century. 

The  specimen  adduced  was  a  festival  of  aneranos — it  was 
the  thiasos  itself,  and  a  glance  at  Liddell  will  satisfy  the 
skeptic  that  it  was  a  society  of  poor,  persecuted  people,  who 
agreed  to  assess  each  other  in  common  for  their  daily  food 
and  their  monthly  convivials ;  and  the  proof  that  these  poor 
girls  were  sometimes  members  greatly  intensifies  the  inter- 
est in  them.  Besides,  it  is  a  known  fact  that  among  these 
musical  trades  unionists  were  some  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
intelligent  people  the  world  ever  produced.  It  was  not 
considered  prostitution  in  those  days  to  do  what  they  did. 
The  stern  philosopher  Zeno,  hero  of  Stoicism,  fell  desper- 
ately in  love  with  one;  and  if  we  are  to  believe  Athenseus 
was  ready  to  defend  his  love  with  the  antics  of  a  madman. 
This  was  after  he  had  vainly  insulted  her  because  she  camo 
to  him  for  protection. 

But  the  most  magnificient  proof  of  the  communist  move- 
ment in  those  days  is  yet  to  be  given. 


CHAPTER  XXTL 

THE  A-NCIENT    BANNER. 

INCALCULABLY  AGED  FLAG  OF  LABOR. 

THE  OLD,  Old  Crimson  Ensign — An  Emblem  of  Peace  and  Good 
Will  to  Man — Strange  Power  of  Human  Habit — Descent  of 
the  Rsd  Banner  through  Primitive  Culture — White  and  Azure 
the  Colors  of  Mythical  Angels,  Grandees  and  Aristocrats — 
Colors  for  the  Lowly  without  Family,  Souls  or  other  Seraphic 
Attributes — How  the  Bed  Vexillum  was  Stolen  from  Labor 
— Tricks  which  Compromised  Peace  Tenets  of  the  Flag — The 
Flag  at  the  Dawn  of  Labor's  Power — Testimony  of  Polybius 
— Of  Livy — Of  Plutarch — Causes  of  Working  People's  Affec- 
tion for  Red— The  Emblem  of  Health  and  the  Fruits  of  Toil 
— Ceres  and  Minerva  their  Protectresses  and  Mother-God- 
desses Wore  the  Flaming  Red — Emblem  of  Strength  and  Vi- 
tality— Archaeology  in  Proof — Their  Color  First  Borrowed 
from  Crimson  Sun-Beams — More  Light  and  less  Darkness — 
White  and  Pale  Hues  for  the  Priests — Origin  of  the  Word 
"  FLAG"— It  is  the  "Word-Root  of  "  Flame  "  a  Red  Color- 
Proofs  Quoted — Mediaeval  Banner  in  Fran'ce  and  England — 
The  Red  of  All  Modern  Flags  Borrowed  from  that  of  the  An- 
cient Unions — Disgraceful  Ignorance  of  Modern  Prejudice 
and  Censure. 

THE  typical  color  of  the  great  non-laboring  classes  in  an" 
cient  times  was  white  and  azure  blue ;  while  that  of  the 
strictly  laboring  element  was  red.  This  phenomenon  has 
come  down  to  us  by  the  power  of  habit,  from  high  antiquity.1 

1  Consult  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  (Vol.  I  pp.  70,  eq.  5f.  Y.  1888,  Survival, 
for  illustrations  on  the  power  of  habit:  "  The  saying  that  marriages  in  May  are 
unlucky—  believed  so  18  centuries  ago  and  more,  fee  Ovid,  Fastm,  V. — survives 
to  this  day  in  England,  a  striking  example  how  an  idea,  the  meaning  of  which 
has  perished  for  ages,  may  continue  to  exist  simply  because  it  has  existed. 
There  are  thousands  of  cases  of  this  kind  which  have  become,  so  to  speak,  land- 


466  THE  OLD   RED  FLAG. 

White,  in  heathen  mythology,  was  thought  to  be  emblem- 
atical of  degree.  It  was  the  color  used  by  the  gens  families 
and  by  the  priesthood.  Very  often  a  beautiful  azure  of  var- 
ious shades  accompanied  the  pure  white.  Following  this 
habit  of  the  optimates  and  their  hierarchy,  we  still  imagine 
white  to  be  the  color  of  the  robes  of  angels,  and  still  make 
it  a  holy  color.*  All  people,  ancient  or  modern,  having  a 
history  and  a  priesthood  with  concomitant  crafts,  have  re- 
garded white  as  the  adumbration  of  holiness,  of  purity,  of 
aristocracy.  It  is  the  color  which  befits  itself  to  supersti- 
tion and  to  property  ;  therefore  the  gens  or  the  gentle,  who 
do  not  work,  who  are  unsoiled,  who  eat  up  the  products  of 
labor,  who  robe  themselves  in  white  and  ascend  throne,  see, 
chancel,  pulpit  or  patriarchal  seat,  and  who  talk  of  their 
"  subjects  "  whom  they  spurn  and  absorb,  are  of  all  others 
most  certain  to  flaunt  the  robes  of  white,  and  azure  and  shin- 
ing purple.  These  colors  date  from  a  dim  era  of  antiquity, 
and  like  the  etymon  they  were  self-suggestive  as  the  anti- 
thesis of  sweat  and  toil  and  grime.  They  embellished  and 
decked  the  bodies  of  the  "  washed,"  and  could  not  go  hand 
in  hand  with  creatures  smoked  and  smeared  at  the  fnrnace 
and  the  anvil.  Hence  a  contempt  of  labor.*  The  idea  of 
Plato  which  he  copied  from  the  Pagan  religion  and  which 
Christianity  unfortunately  afterwards  copied  from  him,  un- 
der the  name  of  Neo-Platonism,  was  that  of  white  robes, 
white  wings,  white  banners  —  a  mysterious  power  in  the 
clouds,  a  home  at  Mount  Olympus,  and  the  vaulted  dome 
of  heaven  —  and  myriads  of  slaves  and  menials  in  red,  brown, 
dun  and  murk  who  were  to  plod  without  souls,  liberties 


the  course  of  culture."  This  aut^r  hereupon  cites  many  instances 
showing  the  extreme  age  of  our  paltriest  habits,  some  of  which  are  really  aston- 
ishing, One  of  the  most  striking  instances  which  might  have  been  enumerated 
by  Mr.  Tylor,  along  with  the  many  that  he  here  adduces,  is  the  red  banner,  which 
for  antiquity  and  pith  of  antecedent  meaning  has  perhaps  no  rival  in  the  tale  of 
primitive  culture  .  We  have  another  remark  illustrative  of  the  power  of  habit 
and  one  which  may  be  regarded  as  curious  and  far-fetched,  made  by  Rogers,  So- 
cial Life  in  Scotland,  Vol.  I.  p.  6,  in  speaking  of  the  giants  and  cave-dwellers  of 
the  stone  period:  "In  popular  superstition  there  stiil  linger  memories  of  the 
Neolithic  age.1'  This  is  really  wonderful. 

2  Revelations,  vii.  9,  14.  So  idem,  xix.  8  :  "  And  to  her  was  granted  that  she 
should  be  arrayed  in  line  linen,  clean  and  white,  for  the  fine  linen  is  the  right- 
eousness of  saints."  So  again  xix.  14,  "  And  the  armies  which  were  in  heaven 
followed  him  upon  white  horses,  clothed  in  fine  linen,  white  and  clean.'' 

"  Guhl  aud  Koner,  Li/eofthe  Greeks  and  Romans,  tr.  Hlifler,  p.  485,  speaking 
of  the  ancients  says  :  "  The  usual  color  of  the  dress  was  originally  white  i  for  the 
toga  this  was  prescribed  by  law),  only  poor  people,  slaves  and  freedmen  wore 
dress  of  the  natural  brown  or  black  colors."  Hed,  a  "  color,"  was  always  coneid- 
qred  finer  than  brown  or  black,  though  all  were  labor  colors, 


WHITE  IS  HIGH,  COLOR  JL&W;    RED,  A  COLOR.    467 

honors  or  rewards,  in  the  degrading  service  of  keeping  them 
white,  clean-washed  and  fat.  The  idea  of  Aristotle,  the 
practical,  was,  that  labor  itself  was  pure,  worthy,  and  the 
only  thing  which  could  possibly  lead  men  to  knowledge  and 
good;  yet  even  his  great  mind  could  not  at  that  early  day 
discern  a  method  of  ridding  the  world  of  slaves,  although 
Socrates,  a  member  of  a  commune  that  waved  the  red  ban- 
ner, had  told  them  that  manual  labor  was  a  virtue.* 

Again,  white  was  the  color  of  the  ancient  aristocratic 
flag  or  military  banner,  both  of  the  Romans  and  Greeks. 
This  is  distinctly  told  to  us  in  an  elaborate  description  of  all 
the  phases  of  the  subject,  by  Polybius,5  who  wrote  just  at 
the  time  when  the  greater  slave  rebellions  were  beginning 
fiercely  to  rage. 

As  long  as  the  ancient  military  ranks  remained  undefiled 
by  the  presence  of  slaves  and  freedmen,  or  persons  of  lowly 
condition,  the  semeion  or  vexillum,  that  is,  the  flags  arid 
banners  were  white,  azure  and  gray.  But  we  find  that 
curiously  enough,  the  red  vexillum  comes  temptingly  into 
the  Roman  tent  at  the  very  time  when  the  workingmen  be- 
gan to  assume  military  and  political  importance.  It  was 
evidently  introduced  as  a  means  for  inspiring  this  class  of 
soldiers  to  desperate  acts  of  valor;6  because  the  red  banner 
of  the  communes  was  so  sacred  to  them  that  they  would 
recklessly  cast  their  lives  into  the  jaws  of  death  in  the  act 
of  recapturing  it  from  an  enemy.  Multitudes  of  instances 
are  on  record  proving  that  the  Roman  generals  cunningly 
managed  to  toss  the  vexillum  or  red  banner,  in  some  surrep- 
titious manner,  over  into  the  enemy's  camp  at  a  moment  of 
onset,  thereby  enthusing  the  soldiers  with  a  reckless  oblivion 
of  danger,  as  they  crushed  into  it  in  desperate  haste  and  de- 
termination to  seize  from  the  polluted  fingers  of  the  bar- 
barian their  endeared  and  cherished  flag.7 

*  For  more  on  this  great  man's  philosophy,  see  chapters  iv.  on  the  Eleusinian 
Mysteries,  and  xxiv.  on  tile  Plans  of  the  Ancient  Benefactors. 

5  Polybiub  Megal,  Historia,  VII.  c.  39,  pp.  676-677,  ed.  Gronovii.  Amstelo- 
darni,  1670:  'tis  arravriov  iapi<r^ei'iov  KOL  ovvrfSiov  ovTiav  SiaoTj/xaTiov  fiera  6e  TO.VTO. 
tnjfj.an.av  eirrjf ac  (xeiar  pfv  rr)v  TTpuiTrjv  ev  <a  Sfl  roirta  TT)V  TOU  OTparyj-you  <TKT\VT\V  &ovTtpav 
Si  Tf  CTTI  T>)s  7rpe(70€i<T7)9  JrAovpas,  rptTov   eirl  ft«<7Tjs  TIJ?  ypa.n/j.ri'i  t<t>    »)?  oi  xl^'aPXot 
rpt^tovaiv  Ttrpa.TTr)V  Trap"   iroQev  ra  <7TpaTO7re6a.      Kat  Taurus   /iei-  woioOcro'i  ifroivixas 
rt  Se  <cai  vrpaTifyov  Aov/aov.     Ta  5e  e;ri  Sarepa  jrore   nev  \firi\a.  Sopara   irriyvvovcrt,, 
W<OT«  &f  <T7jfiata5  eic  riav  a\\tav  XPWM^Twv. " 

6  In  earlier  times  the  plebeian  class  were  refused  admission  to  armies  as  sol- 
diers solely  on  the  ground  that  military  work  is  aristocratic.    They  finally  over- 
came this  prejudice  to  some  extent 

i  Plutarch,  Paulus  JimUius.    "  The  Romans  who  engaged  the  phalanx,  be- 


468  THE   OLD  RED  FLAG. 

The  curiosity  of  the  reader  may  by  this  time  be  aroused 
to  understand  what  may  have  been  the  cause  of  this  strange 
affection.  We  shall  attempt  to  bring  out,  so  far  as  authen- 
tic evidence  can  be  had,  the  facts  lying  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ineffaceable  love  in  the  strictly  proletarian  class,  for  the 
beautiful  and  incomputably  aged  red  banner ;  and  in  doing 
so,  we  may  help  the  inquirer  in  the  effort  to  discern  the 
causes  of  this  emblem  having  so  successfully  breasted  the 
storms  of  adversity  and  time  and  come  down  to  us  embalmed 
in  the  same  love  and  veneration  that  shrouded  and  shielded 
it  in  deep  antiquity,  when  it  knew  and  comforted  men  only 
as  poor  and  lowly  slaves. 

In  the  heathen  mythology  two  great  and  celebrated  de- 
ities presided  over  labor — Minerva  and  Ceres.  The  Greek 
names  of  these  celebrated  and  much  adored  mythic  deities 
were  Demeter  for  Ceres,  goddess  of  agriculture  and  fruit- 
fulness  of  the  earth,  and  Athena  for  Minerva,  goddess  of 
manual  labor  and  protectress  of  working  women  and  work- 
ingmen.  These  two  great  deities  wore  flaming  red.8 

Bacchus  of  the  Romans  and  Dionysus  were  the  same 
myths  with  Ceres  and  Athena;  that  is,  they  seem  to  have 
personified  in  the  male  what  these  goddesses  did  in  the 
female;  and  their  veslure,  like  that  of  the  goddesses,  was 
flaming  red.  So  Apollo,  who  was  none  other  than  the  sun, 
was  allied  to  them  in  functions.  The  reason  of  this  is,  that 
both  genders  of  these  imaginary  beings  represented  the  an- 
cient sun-worship.  The  brilliant,  flaming  light  of  the  sun  is 

ing  unable  to  break  it.  Salius,  a  Pelignian  officer  snatched  the  ensign  of  the 
company,  and  threw  it  among  the  enemy.  Hereupon  the  Pelignians,  rushed  for- 
ward to  recover  it,  for  the  Italians  look  upon  it  as  a  great  crime  and  disgrace  to 
abandon  their  standard.  A  dreadtul  conflict  and  slaughter  on  both  sides  en- 
sued." Caesar,  De  Belfo  Gattico,  often  speaks  of  incidents  of  this  kind. 

s  The  state  robe  of  Athena  was  generally  of  a  flaming  red.  Abundance  of 
evidence  also  shows  the  colors  of  these  two  patrons  of  labor  to  have  been  red. 
Ked  was  also  the  color  of  Proserpine,  the  daughter  of  Demeter  or  Ceres:  This 
was  not  confined  to  Greece  and  Rome.  The  same  myths  wore  red  in  Asia.  Africa 
and  even  in  Britain,  See  Hughes,  Horce  Britannicce,  Vol.  I.  p.  294,  Lond.  1818  : 
"  The  British  Ked  or  Ceridwen,  is  in  many  respects  the  same  character  as  the 
Ceres  of  the  Greek  mythology  and  the  Isis  of  the  Esryptians.  *  *  *  *  "  She  was 
arrayed  in  a  vesture  of  flaming  silk  ;  a  strong  wreath  of  ruddy  gold  was  about, 
the  ntck.  wherein  was  set  a  precious  pearl,  and  rows  of  coral ;  yellower  was  her 
hair  than  the  blossoms  of  the  broom;  her  skin  was  whiter  than  the  loam  of  the 
wave :  her  hands  and  fimgers  were  fairer  than  the  opening  buds  of  the  water-lily, 
amid  the  small  ripplings  of  the  fountain  of  waters ;  or  the  sight  of  the  hawk  ni- 
ter mewing,  or  the  sight  of  the  falcon  of  three  mews;  no  brighter  eyes  than  hers 
were  Been ;  whiter  was  her  bosom  than  the  breast  of  the  fair  swan  ;  redder  hrr 
checks  than  the  rose  of  the  mountain;  whoever  saw  her  was  filled  with  love; 
four  white  trefoils  were  seen  to  rise  in  her  way  wherever  she  came,  and  there- 
ore  was  she  named  Olwen  or  the  fair  lady." 


RED  AS  THE  EVENING  SUNBEAMS.  469 

thought  to  have  been  the  first  object  of  awe  and  wonder  be- 
fore which  primitive  man  bowed  himself  down  in  ador- 
ation. It  was  the  great  and  magnificent  orb  of  day  that  in 
spring  warmed  the  first  sprigs  of  vegetable  life.  To  the 
grand  monarch  of  the  day,  the  ancient  laboring  man  first 
gave  homage  for  light  and  heat  which  caused  the  fruits  of 
bis  planting  to  grow  and  ripen.  As  this  wondrous  being, 
always  believed  to  be  alive  and  rational,  immense  in  bulk, 
exquisite  in  beauty,  radiant  with  heat  and  life,  rose  out  of 
the  sea  and  skimmed  over  their  heads,  he  shed  forth  his 
crimson  flames  upon  their  labor  and  his  color  was  likened 
to  the  fluid  that  coursed  in  their  veins.  The  Dionysus  thus 
became  the  protective  principle  for  the  Greek-speaking  and 
the  Bacchus  for  the  Latin-speaking  world,  on  which  the  vast 
system  of  labor  organizations  we  have  described  was  founded, 
cultivated  and  perpetuated  for  thousands  of  years;  and  their 
natural  color  was  red,  or  color  refined. 

This  accounts  for  the  high-born  or  optimate  class  repre- 
sented in  the  priesthood,  the  military,  the  non-laboring  ele- 
ment— in  other  words,  the  pretended  pure,  clean-washed 
and  unsoiled — having  a  contempt  for  color  and  for  labor  that 
soiled  ;  and  it  also  accounts  for  all  the  low-born,  represented 
in  occupations  of  agriculture  and  mechanics  like  the  labor- 
ing element,  or  the  tainted,  tarnished,  sweat-begrimed,  hav- 
ing a  natural  love  of  color,  whose  highest  type  is  red. 

It  was  a  thing  most  natural  that  the  emblems  of  Ceres 
should  be  of  a  red  color.  She  was  of  herself  a  majesty  of 
no  inferior  sort.  The  products  of  her  care  were  wheat  and 
other  grain,  the  supply  of  which  from  the  earth,  furnished 
the  red  blood  always  known  to  be  the  animating  and  strength- 
giving  fluid  of  life;  although  the  exact  action  of  blood  from 
heart  to  lungs  and  thence  through  arteries,  and  its  return 
through  veins  was  a  more  recent  discovery.  It  is  thus  very 
natural  that  we  should  find  among  the  organizations  which 
chose  Ceres  as  their  patron  divinity,  the  strictest  adherence 
to  her  coat  of  arms  and  her  emblems  and  escutcheons,  the 
same  colors  that  she  was  known  to  prefer. 

Accordingly  the  inscriptions  contain  representations  of 
the  ancient  banner,  so  well  known  to  have  been  carried  at 
the  innocent  and  legalized  parades  of  the  thiasotes  and  or- 
giastes  in  Greece,  Palestine,  Asia  Minor  and  the  islands,  and 
by  the  societies  and  collegia  in  almost  every  town,  little  or 


470  TEE    OLD   RED  FLAG. 

large,  in  Italy.'  Even  at  Carthage  and  all  along  the  const 
of  North  Africa  remains  of  these  organizations  are  being 
found. 

A  powerful  natural  reason  for  their  preferring  this  color 
was  probably  its  beauty.  The  color  red  is  known  in  optics 
to  be  the  first  one  on  the  list.  Then  come  orange,  yellow, 
green,  blue,  indigo  and  violet.10  White  is  not  a  color.  Azure 
ia  a  hue.  Red  of  a  brilliant  hue  may  be  seen  at  a  greater  dis- 
tance than  any  other  color  and  it  is  of  all  gifts  of  nature  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  and  inspiring.  Many  have  dubbed 
Ceres  the  tutelary  patroness  of  the  United  States."  The 
flag  adopted  by  the  American  Union  is,  scientifically  con- 
sidered, a  very  perfect  one;  the  metaphorical  meaning  of  the 
red  which  is  placed  in  the  stripes,  being  the  same  as  that 
involved  in  the  ancient,  which  has  a  wonderful  history  in 
the  past  of  labor.  If  the  modern  republic  has  any  divinity 
at  all,  it  is  Ceres,  Rhea,  Cybele,  Isis,  the  protectress  of  the 
farmers,  and  Minerva  the  guardian  of  mechanics  and  inven- 
tions. The  red  means  the  stripes;  not  the  revengeful, 
bloody  red  with  the  present  meaning  trumped  up  against  it 
in  some  wilfully  ignorant  minds,  covering  with  obloquy 
•which  present  society,  unable  to  disabuse  itself  of  the  an- 
cient grudge  and  contempt  of  labor,  still  uses  against  the  red 
flag,  but  the  exact  reverse — the  stripes  represent  the  blows 
which  labor  in  her  great  conflict  to  free  herself  from  enslave- 
ment, poverty  and  oppression,  has  received  upon  her  back 
from  the  lash  of  aristocracy  and  brutal  force.  Unwittingly^ 
perhaps,  the  United  States  adopted  these  stripes  as  a  com- 
ponent part  of  its  beautiful  and  suggestive  national  banner  j 
and  this  act  was  a  strictly  scientific  one;  for  it  exactly  con- 
forms with  the  ancient  symbol  red,  enormously  used  by 
Roman  and  Greek  organizations  expressive  and  significant 
of  the  scourge,  the  stripes  and  the  lines  of  blood  which 

»  Consult  chapter  xxi.  supra,  also  Liiders,  Die  Dionysiscken  Kunstler;  Encyclo- 
pedic Tech. 

10  The  Encyclopaedia  Brittannica,  in  an  exhaustive  article  on  Light.  (Vol.  XIV. 
p.  682),  reduces  the  primitive  colors  to  three— red,  green  and  violet.    This  makes 
red  to  be  the  monarch  of  colors,  as  the  oak  is  the  monarch  of  trees,  the  lion  the 
monarch  of  quadrupeds,  or  man  the  monarch  of  mortals     A  respectable  authority 
for  modern  colors,  the  Encyclopedia  Technologique,  Tome.  I.  Art.  Couleur,  init, 
says:   "Ces  couleurs  fondamentales  sont:  Le  rouge,  ('orange,  le  jaune,  le  bleu, 
1'mdigo  et  le  violet."    Here  also  thered  is  the  flrstnv  utiomd  of  all  colors.    The- 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Vol-  VII.  p.  495,  says;    ''  the  red  holds  the  highest  po- 
sition among  all  dyed  colors." 

11  Carnegie,  Triumphant  Democracy,  p.  180.     "  Ceres  the  priire  divinity  of 
the  United  (states." 


ITS  HISTORY  AS  AN  EMBLEM.  471 

streaked  the  naked  backs  of  the  poor  and  lowly  of  ancient 
labor." 

We  now  proceed  to  give  a  history  of  the  red  emblem  as 
used  against  labor  by  the  rich  and  strong,  for  the  seeming 
purpose  of  making  capital  out  of  the  reverence  and  affection 
always  clinging  in  the  organizations,  which  from  more  an- 
cient times  they  had  inherited  as  the  chosen  color  of  their 
divinities,  Ceres,  Minerva,  Saturn  and  perhaps  Apollo. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  necessary  to  enter  into  an  analysis 
of  the  word  "flag."  A  glance  at  a  Latin  dictionary  will 
explain  that  flag  is  the  root  of  the  word  "flamma" — a  cir- 
cumstance altogether  extraordinary.  Andrews  for  instance, 
defines  flamma  as  follows:  u  Flamma,  EC.  (archaic  gentive 
piiro-nlar  flammai,  used  by  Lucretius,  I.  726 ;  899 ;  V.  1088) 
feminine  (flagma  from  FLAG;  whence  flagro  and  flagito, 
Greek  phlegma,  from  phlego).  A  blazing  fire,  blaze, 
flame." 

This  is  an  aged  word  and  has  its  real  origin  in  the  red 
beams  of  the  sun  which  almost  all  men  in  primitive  ages 
adored  under  the  religion  of  the  sun- worshipers.  Without 
the  slightest  doubt  this  original  flag  was  one  of  the  names 
of  the  nncient  banner  which  was  red.  Because  it  was  red 
and  carried  by  the  secret  organizations  on  which  the  ruling 
minority  cast  a  taint,  it  never  attained  to  enough  popularity 
to  be  used  by  ancient  writers,  and  consequently  failed  to 
come  down  to  us  in  form  of  an  emblem,  or  with  the  signifi- 
cance of  a  banner  or  flag,  although  it  never  lost  its  original 
meaning ;  and  its  many  variations  of  form  appear  hi  history 
times  without  number.  The  innocent  original  changed  in 
time  to  a  multitude  of  instruments  of  torture.  It  got  to  be 
flagitium,  a  shameful  act,  then  flagrum  a  whip,  and  as  such 
was  stuck  in  bundles  (fasces),  along  with  an  axe  and  carried 
in  threatening  pomp  by  the  august  praetors  to  scourge  slaves 
with.  How  could  the  old  red  flag  differentiate  into  a  whip  ? 

It  was  simply  the  work  of  hate  and  prejudice.  The  or- 
ganizations would  never  give  up  their  red  banners ;  they  are 
carrying  them  still  by  the  power  of  habit,  although  the  be- 

12  Slaves  and  freedmen  sometimes  composed,  portion  of  the  forces  of  armies 
in  the  time  of  Polybius  .  This  author  who  wrote  as  early  as  B.  C.  145,  describes 
the  arrangement  in  the  camrs,  of  both  slaves  and  freedmen.  ns  well  as  their  du- 
ties ;  "Mcra  6«  TIJV  aTaroirSfiav  avfaflpotOeWts  oi  xiAiap^oi,  rovf  (K  TOV  arpaToiriSov 
irayTt?  e'AovOe'pov?  6/xoC  y  6ovAov?  dp/afouoi,  Ka.0'  tva.  Ttoiovfitvoi  re  opxia/tov-  'O  Si 
opKOs  saiv  jUTjiev  «  TT(?  iraofjuSoAr/?  K\e\iitiv  aAAa  KOLV  fvprj  n)9  TOVT"  avotaev  «jri 
TOIS  xtA'aPX°lv- "  Polybius,  Uiitoria,  VI  31  init. 


472  THE    OLD  RED    FLAG, 

lief  in  the  power  of  the  once  omnipotent  Ceres  and  Minerva 
lias  long  since  faded  from  the  earth."  The  prejudice  against 
their  banner  and  the  innumerable  communes  was  based  upon 
their  supposed  meanness,  which  is  also  fast  being  outgrown. 
This  prejudice  was  also  heightened  u  by  the  fact  that  the  or- 
ganizations grew  powerful,  sometimes  rich  and  influential, 
always  preaching  a  cult  opposed  to  the  despotism  of  capital 
and  often  and  especially  in  Italy,  as  we  have  seen,  becoming 
a  potent  factor  in  politics,  which  was  a  crime  against  the 
aristocracy  of  ownership  and  military  and  political  power 
held  by  the  great  gens  families  and  their  slave-based  religion. 

It  is  thus  plainly  seen  that  in  ancient  days,  the  red  ban- 
ner was  an  emblem  among  the  labor  societies,  of  blood- 
making,  not  of  blood-letting ;  while  among  the  grandees  it 
was  emblematical  of  blood-spilling  and  torture ;  never  indi- 
cative of  building  up,  either  the  human  body  or  the  body 
politic.  The  system  upon  which  the  ancient  aristocracy 
rested  was  cruelly  and  ferociously  competitive  and  its  pro- 
duct was  slavery  while  its  instruments  of  creating  as  well  as 
perpetuating  this  thankless  institution  were  legalized  lascivi- 
ousaess  of  its  lords,  and  whips  and  scourges  dyed  red  in  the 
blood  of  laborers  whose  backs  streaked  with  crimson  which 
flowed  from  the  furrows  made  by  thongs,  that  their  own 
greatness  and  their  victims'  littleness  might  be  more  widely 
contrasted." 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  working  people  and  their  flag. 
In  the  first  place  the  primitive  mind  of  man  conceives  a 
fondness  for  flaming  colors,  and  red,  which  is  the  champion 
of  tints,  attracted  their  delight  by  its  beauty.  One  may 
stretch  the  imagination  to  conceive  that  this  fact  originated 
its  adoption  by  his  protecting  divinities ;  for  he  would  nat- 
urally incline  to  fix  their  favorite  colors  in  harmony  with  his 
own  tastes  or  fancies.  We  have  as  a  result,  of  the  natural 
and  innocent  fancy  of  primitive  mind  for  this  beautiful 
ground-color,  all  the  lowly  estate  of  antiquity,  fixing  their 
institutions  in  blazoned  red,  and  nailing  \irtue,  peace,  social- 

13  See  Bouillet.  Histoire  des  Cnmrnunitis  des  Arts  et  des  Metiers  de  VAuvergne, 
passim.  Text  and  plates,  representing  the  "  bannieres  "  as  were  used  in  middle 
ages. 

i*  Juvenal.,  Satire*. 

15  Lycurgns,  whose  slaves  system  in  Lacedemon  we  have  described,  laid  down 
a  rnle  by  which  slaves  were  whipped  at  night  without  having  committed  an  of- 
fense afier  having  worked  all  day.  This  punishnien',  was  to  humiliate  them  for 
aubniissiveness  next  day.  They  must  also  crouch  lest  should  they  stand  erect 
they  be  compared  with  men.  See  i'lutarch  Li/curgus. 


ITS  ORIGIN  IN  SUN-WORSHIP.  473 

ism,  poverty  and  resignation,  to  their  unobtrusive  banner — 
a  brilliant  red.  We  find  them,  too,  irrevocable  in  the  belief 
that  God,  dressed  in  the  crimson  glories  of  the  sun  and  in 
awful  justice,  threw  light  and  warmth  and  glory  upon  the 
crops  of  their  sowing  and  the  mechanical  products  of  their 
handicraft ;  while  the  power  of  habit — that  second  law  of 
perpetuation  of  being — has  transmitted,  even  to  this  day, 
an  ineffaceable  love  in  the  poor,  for  those  endeared  and 
cherished  emblems.16 

The  celebrated  red  himation  "  and  chiton  were  for  a  long 
time  the  principal  article  of  clothing.  The  dancing  girls 
and  flute-players  wore  them  during  the  voluptuous  age  of 
Athens.  They  were  worn  at  the  feasts  of  Dionysus  by  the 
communists  of  the  thiasoi.  Of  this  we  have  the  positive 
evidence  of  numerous  inscriptions,  some  of  which,  although 
engraved  on  stone,  are  very  good  pictures  of  the  feasters  re- 
turning from  their  march  through  the  streets. 

At  Rome  this  love  of  the  red  banner  among  the  plebeians 
was  often  turned  to  profit  by  the  rich.  After  the  overthrow 
of  the  Roman  kings  (B.  C.  510),  two  officers  little  less  in 
power  than  the  kings  themselves,  were  installed  as  supreme 
rulers  in  their  place.  These  were  the  consuls.  A  great 
growth  of  the  power  of  the  laboring  element,  as  we  have 
shown  in  preceding  chapters  on  Trade  Unions,  very  gradu- 
ally oame  into  the  world;  and  this  new  force  immediately 
began  to  make  incursions  upon  and  against  the  consular 
authority.  The  red  flag  is  involved  in  this  quarrel.  It  had 
been  the  kings  who  upheld  the  unions ;  the  consuls,  who 

16  Examples  proving  red  to  have  been  the  primeval  color  among  the  servant 
c'ajc  ire  '••(«<;  constantly  discovered  in  the  inscriptions.    \>r.  Schliemann,  in 
Tiryn*,  i/i     '03-307,  gives  Proi.  Fabricius'  descriptions  of  the  "  mighly  bull," 
recently  d.  a  wall-painting  of  that  pro-Homeric  city.     The  animal, 
mostly  red,  ;*  leupu, ,    ;nd  bounding  at  the  games,  while  an  acrobat  upon  his 
back  is  girding  him  in  :he  dangerous  scene.    These  actors,  always  of  the  slave 
race  (see  chap,  xvii   A  inn*.-.,  ,.•>/!/.>•  of  Antiquity,  pp.  401-414),  were  tugging  and 
Sweating  wtthout  pay,  lor  masters,  a  thousand  years  before  Christ,    'ibis  scene 
is  represented  in  Plate  XIII.  while  fig.  142  gives  another  proof  of  the  remarka- 
ble proclivity  in  days  before  Homer,  for  red.    •'  \\  hilst  the  lower  broad  stripe  is 
red,  the  ground  of  the  ornament  shows  a  bright  red  colour;  the  two  strokes  of 
the  scale  -  like  ornament  are  black,  the  little  circles  and  lines  within  the  scales, 
white.    Very  noteworthy  is  the  simultaneous  occurrence  of  two  different  shades 
of  the  red  color.'' 

17  Guhl  and  Koner.  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  p.  160,  sqq.    These  gar- 
ments are  here  minutely  described.    "  Men  also  appear  in  these  pictures  with 
the  cherry  coloured  chlamys  and  the  red  himation."    But  we  remark  that  the 
same  authors  assure  us  in  both  their  descriptions  of  the  Greeks,  and  of  the  Kom- 
ans,  that  colors  were  only  for  the  common  people.    In  course  of  time  the  hima- 
tion, originally  white  and  worn  by  the  rich,  became  popular  and  took  on  the 
ni«.bcian  hue. 


474  THE    OLD   RED    FLAG 

from  the  very  first,  endeavored  to  suppress  them.  These 
magnates  were  the  natural  enemies  of  the  working  class ;  the 
kings  their  natural  friends.  This  seeming  phenomenon  is 
a  suggestive  fact  of  history.  The  kings  wanted  and  recog- 
nized their  systematic,  organized  labor;  the  consuls,  who 
where  sure  to  be  rich  grandees  of  blood  and  family,  were 
jealous  as  well  as  afraid  of  this  new  and  growing  power 
which  the  mild  and  favorable  laws  of  the  kings  had  made  it 
possible  for  labor  to  develop  under. 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  greatest  intestine  contest  Rome 
ever  had.  It  was  a  death-grapple  of  lordship  with  labor,  in 
which  consular  power  aped  the  banner  and  color  of  com- 
munes,18 and  even  bent  all  energy  to  involve  Rome  in  Great 
wars  of  conquest  for  the  express  object  of  wriggling  out  of 
the  terrible  plebeian  grip.19 

The  patrician  consuls  fought  the  hated  workingraen,  ac- 
cording to  Livy,  with  such  an  unabating  determination  for 
about  five  years  (B.  C.  375-370),  as  to  cause  a  solitudomag- 
istratuum™  or  vacancy,  in  which  there  occurred  what  is  now 
called  an  interregnum — neither  the  lords  nor  the  people, 
holding  the  helm  of  power.  This  was  under  the  plebeian, 
Licinus  Stolo,  author  of  the  agrarian  law,  the  most  renowned 
statute  of  antiquity — a  germ  of  the  same  contention  which 
cost  the  Gracchi,  Blossius  and  Clodius  their  lives,  as  cham- 
pions for  the  poor  in  the  memorable  agrarian  and  labor  tur- 
moils, and  finally  brought  Rome,  with  her  Cicero  and  Caesar 
to  an  ignominious  end,  because  she  purloined  the  segis  of 
laborers  on  whom  she  glutted  herself  while  maintaining 
slavery  as  a  fundament  of  her  religion  and  government. 

is  Pee  Encydopcedia  Brittanica,  9th  edition,  Stoddart,  Phil.  Vol.  VI.  p.  279, 
describing  the  consuls:  ''  A  cloak  with  a  scarlet  border  and  an  ivory  staff  were 
badges  or  their  office."  For  more  than  600  years  thereafter  the  scarlet  which 
darkened  into  purple  became  a  state  color.  The  consuls  stole  the  red  vexillw* 
by  a  similar  species  of  trick,  from  the  communes — a  blasphemy  against  the  an- 
cient peace-color  of  Ceres  and  Minerva  the  protecting  divinifes  of  laborers  and 
the  fruits  of  labor.  The  following  modern  criticism  admits  this:  If  the  consols 
"wished  to  subdue  any  outbreak  of  the  plebeians,  they  feigned  that  some 
powerful  enemy  was  marching  against  the  city,  and  thus  succeeded  in  obtaining 
extraordinary  powers.''  Encyclopcedia  Britannica,  Vol.  VI.  p.  280. 

19  Speaking  of  those  patrician  consuls,  the  same  author  in  idem,  colnmn  2, 
says:  "  tiaving  once  begnu  the  struggle  (against  the  plebeians),  however,  they 
maintained  it  for  the  space  of  80  years,  with  a  spirit  and  resolution  which  made 
even  a  foreign  war  desirable  as  a  relief  from  internal  contents." 

20  Livy,  VI.  35,  Jin.     "  Hand  irritce  cecedere  mince:  comitia,  prseter  aedilium 
tribunorumque  plebis,  nulla  punt  habita.    Licinius  Sextiusque,  tribuni  plebis  re- 
fecti,  nullos  curules  magistvatus  creari  passi  sunt:  eaque  soMudo  magis/ratum,  et 
plebe  reflciente  duos  tribunes,  ct  his  comitia  tribunorum  militum  tollentibns, 
per  qninquennium  urbein  tenuit."    Such  was  the  tremendous  power  of  the  out- 
c  ist  element  thai  Koine  lost  her  aristocratic  hold  for  5  whole  years. 


PRAETORS    WITH    WHIPS  AND   AXES.         475> 

In  this  aristocratic  consular  arrangement,  next  after  the 
consuls  themselves,  were  many  prsetors,  lieutenants  of  the 
consuls  and  lord  mayors  of  the  provincial  cities.  These 
with  the  Komans  were  also  generally  the  grandees  who  dis- 
pensed military  force.31  "  The  insignia  of  the  pra?tor  were 
those  common  to  the  higher  Roman  magistrates — the  pnr- 
ple-edged  robe  (toga  praetexta),  and  the  ivory  chair  (sella 
curulis).  In  Rome  he  was  attended  by  two  lictors,  in  the 
provinces  by  six.'1  The  curules  or  ivory  sedans,  were  from 
the  state  four  and  six  horse  chariots  and  represent  extraor- 
dinary power. 

An  example  of  the  power  exercized  by  the  praetor  over 
the  poor  slave,  is  given  by  us  in  another  page,  where  a 
brave  man  in  Sicily,  for  killing  a  dangerous  wild  boar,  so 
excited  his  lordship's  jealousy,  that,  taking  advantage  of 
an  ancient  law  prohibiting  persons  of  lowly  birth  from  the 
use  of  the  javelin,  he  ordered  the  trembling  man  to  be 
crucified  upon  the  spot.  These  prtetors  made  use  of  the 
red  color  of  labor  for  the  brutal  purposes  of  war,  and  it 
looks  seriously  as  though  this  was  a  sort  of  cunning  ruse 
or  dodge,  played  upon  the  credulous,  whereby  to  curry 
favor  with  the  already  powerfully  organized  numbers  of 
labor. 

Next  after  the  consuls  and  prsetors  in  the  military  pag- 
eant came  the  lictors.  They  wore  the  blue  and  azure 
cloak  when  in  the  field,  which  was  the  sagum  caeruleum, 
epithet  of  death,  darkness,  night  In  this  garb  the  lie- 
tor's  fierce  military  characteristics  were  personified.  The 
grand  magistrate's  attendant,  he  strutted  at  the  pageant 
in  line  of  march,  with  a  bundle  of  rods  in  his  hand  and 
held  on  high  the  formidable  axe  of  execution,  that  the 
people  might  understand  the  presence  of  a  sublime  power 
and  bow  their  heads  in  respect.  If  a  criminal  or  malefactor 
was  caught,  his  duty  was  to  whip  him  with  the  scourges 
and  cleave  his  head  from  his  body  with  the  axe." 

n  Encyclopaedia  Brittanica,  Vol.  XIX.  p.  675. 

**  Livy,  1.26.  "Horatius  cni  goror  virgo,  qnae  desponsa  r  ni  ex  Cnriatiis 
fuerat,  ob via  ante  portam  Caper.am  fait :  cognitoqae  gaper  humeros  paiudarnento 
eponsi,  quod  ipga  confecerat,  solvit  crine?,  et  flebiliter  nomine  spoiisum  mortuurn 
appellat.  Movet  feroci  jtiveni  animnm  comploratio  sororis  in  victoria  sua  tan- 
toqne  gaudio  publico.  ;»tricto  itaque  gladio,  sinuil  verbis  increpans.  trsnsfl«ic 
puellum:  'Abi  hinc  cnm  immature  amore  ad  sponsum,  inqnit  *  *  *  *  1  lictor 
colliga  manus  qnae  pauilo  ante  armatae  imperium  r.opnlo  Komano  peperernnt  " 
The  game  ferocioas  order  was  given  the  lictor  by  the  father  of  .Nh-nUus.  '  Livy,  X 
liber  VIII.  cap.  7(  ;  ••  I.  lictor  deliga  ad  p»lum."  A  consul,  prretor  or  other  su- 
perior officers  had  the  right  to  order  a  lictor  to  perform  any  execution. 


476  THE  OLD   RED   FLAG. 

But  when  there  was  peace  and  while  they  were  in 
Rome,  the  lictors  wore  the  toga,  purple  or  purple-bor- 
dered, because  the  lictors  must  be  of  high-born  stock;  al- 
though the  toga  of  the  unions  was  red,  brown  or  dark 
red.  It  corresponded  in  Italy  to  the  himation  in  Greece; 
and  was  the  color  of  the  lowly  class  everywhere,  repre- 
senting peace,  not  war,M  as  seen  in  any  Latin  dictionary. 
This  remarkable  fact  reveals  itself  more  and  more  plainly 
as  the  arguments  and  material  evidences  upon  which  it 
is  based,  receive  investigation.  Full  attention  to  the  an- 
cient communal  inscriptions  has  not  yet  been  given,  partly 
on  account  of  the  fact  that  colors  do  not  often  survive 
«ven  where  they  were  painted  on  the  tablets;  but  princi- 
pally, because  ensigns  and  emblems  whose  colors,  being 
sacred  were  at  all  times  universally  conceded  were  never 
painted  at  all,  but  simply  engraved  on  the  stone  or  cast- 
ing in  the  natural  color  of  the  material  on  which  they 
were  cut  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  lictors 
who  were  required  to  be  of  the  optimate  class,  wore  only 
a  purple-red,  not  the  labor-red.  This  was  a  mixture  of 
the  genuine  with  the  azure  (cseruleus)  or  the  white. 

Thus  color  in  ancient  days,  socially  speaking,  was  a  line 
of  demarcation  separating  optimates  from  plebeians.*4 
We  have  thus  shown  how  in  war  the  sagum  and  the  vexil- 

**  See  note  — supra,  on  the  red  himation, 

**  See  Guhl  and  Koner,  Life  of  the  Greeks  and  Romatis,  pp.  485-6 :  ••  Tbo  usual 
colour  of  the  dress  was  originally  white  (for  the  toga  this  was  required  hy  law 
only  poor  people,  slaves  and  freedmen  wore  dresses  of  the  natural  brown  G- 
black  colour  of  the  wool."  "In  imperial  times,  however,  even  men  adopted 
dresses  of  scarlet  etc."  *  *  *  "The  bride  wears  a  reddish  violet  stola.  adorned 
with  an  embroidered  instita  of  darker  hue."  These  are  the  poorer  class,  as  they 
«eem  to  come  under  the  general  remark  quoted,  viz :  that  only  poor  people,  slavet 
and  freedmen  wore  colors.  Then  !  page  486  ,  occurs  this  remark ;  The  outside  of 
Perseus'  dress  is  reddish  brown,  the  inside  white,'1  as  if  to  coax  with  the  great 
rising  element,  while  taking  care  to  keep  "pure  "  within,  in  difference  to  this 
fabulous  royal  potentate,  son  of  the  great  cerulean  Zeus.  Speaking  of  the  toga 
of  Italy,  or  the  himation,  of  Greece,  the  same  authors,  p.  486  remark,  that 
"  Looked  at  straight,  the  blood-red  dress  thus  prepared  had  a  blackish  tint : 
looked  at  from  underneath,  it  showed  a  bright  red  color  "  Thus  the  toga  no 
matter  by  whom  worn,  was  red  when  it  represented  peace— a  fact  which  remaims 
good  for  all  antiquity ;  while  the  regular  war-colors  were  azure  and  blue  or  white 
and  azure-blue.  So  again  idem,  p-  168,  speaking  of  the  Greek  robes  and  other 
articles  of  apparel,  and  the  pictures  wnence  "the  information  is  taken,  says ; 
"  Men  also  appear  in  these  pictures,  with  the  cherry-coloured  chlamys  aud  the 
red  himation;  '  and  speaking  of  the  Mirpa  or  ancient  turban,  used  also  sometimes 
as  a  zone-belt,  which  was  red,  the  same  authors  add:  The  Oriental  turban  ia 
undoubtedly  a  remnant  of  this  custom."  Here  again  we  have  an  example  of  the 
power  of  habit,  to  transmit  itself  through  indefinite  periods  of  time.  In  another 
phrase,  idem,  p.  168,  speaking  of  the  plebeian  class,  is  the  expression;  "The 
original  colors,  although  (particular  the  reds)  slightly  altered  by  the  burning  pro- 
cess, may  still  be  distinctly  recognized." 


ANCIENT  COLOR   LINK  47T 

lum  in  its  original  tints,  were  white,  caerulean  or  azure 
and  blue,  in  the  field  of  war,25  while  the  peace  toga  which 
was  red  and  the  vexillum  when  seen  among  the  com- 
munes, were  of  a  brilliant  crimson,  So  also  we  have  ex- 
plained somewhat  the  manner  in  which  in  later  ages  of 
the  republic  the  phenomenal  love  and  reverence  of  the 
lowly  class,  so  soon  as  they  exhibted  a  political  and  mili- 
tary weight  was  taken  advantage  of  and  even  adopted  in 
sham  in  the  Roman  camp,  seemingly  to  curry  favor  with 
this  rising  class.  It  now  remains  to  further  proceed  in 
explanation  of  the  Koman  -military  pageant. 

The  next  officers  in  rank  after  the  lictor  were  sometimes 
the  equites  or  knights  on  horseback;  and  their  military 
pomp,  when  preceded  by  consuls,  praetors  and  their  lictors, 
as  the  latter  bore  aloft  their  praetorian  bundles  of  whips 
and  their  hatchets  and  axes  when  going  out  of  the  gates 
to  war,  or  returning  in  triumph  from  it,  was  a  spectacle 
anything  but  flattering  to  the  poor,  to  whose  backs  and 
necks  the  scourges  and  the  axes  were  too  often  applied. 

Another  powerful  argument  substantiating  the  preva- 
lence of  red  as  an  adopted  color  of  the  gods  of  industry, 
where  peace  and  not  war  was  intended,  is  seen  in  the  typi- 
cal goddess  Pomona,  another  name  perhaps  for  Ceres  or 
Demeter,  Isis,  Cybele  and  other  guardians  of  agricultural 
labor.  She  presided  over  the  orchard  fruits  and  the  gar- 
dens, and  her  emblem,  symbol  or  sign  was  a  flaming 
red.  This  old  Koman  divinity  had  charge  of  fruit- 
orchards.  In  the  deep  forests  she  was  adored  by  satyrs 
and  other  sylvan  fairies.26 

Pomona  stands  out  as  an  excellent  corroboration  to  the 
argument  that  from  the  most  ancient  conceivable  times 
red  was  the  typical  color  for  the  symbols,  emblems  or  ban- 
ners of  the  strictly  working  people  and  shows  furthermore, 
that  to  carry  out  the  original  idea  of  Pomona,  a  priest 
or  priestess  of  a  Pomona  of  to-day  must  be  attired  in  a 
flaming  red  and  must  not  represent  strife;  as  her  function 
is  that  of  peace."  It  was  even  forbidden  on  high  penalty 
that  her  attendant  servant  or  priest  should  look  upon  an 


In  Pisrmrm.  23;  "  logulfe  'ictorlbne  ad  portam  prsssto  fnerent, 
jptis,  saaula  rejecerunt  et  catervano  imperatori  suo  novam  pvrobue- 

i.  • 

20  Ovid.  Metamorphoses,  XIV.   623  seqq 

27  (juhl  and  Kouor,  Life  oftlie  Greeks  and  Jtont.ins,  p,  536. 


25  Cicero.  . 
quibusilli  acce 
runt.' 


478  THE  OLD   RED   FLAG. 

army ;  strife  being  to  her  a  terrible  sin.     He  must  even 
turn  his  head  from  the  sight  of  soldiers. 

This  divinity  chose  tt  from  the  plebs  "  28  a  priest  called 
the  Flamen  Pomonalis.  He  was  allowed  to  take  a  wife  but 
could  never  be  divorced  from  her;  for  that  would  be  sug- 
gestive of  strife.  True  to  the  typical  color  of  the  labor 
she  represented,  she  was  called  flaminica,  and  she  held  in 
her  hand  a  pruning  knife,  although  this  instrument  is 
represented  to  have  also  been  intended  for  sacrificing  the 
lamb  at  the  feasts  of  Pomona.  She  was  robed  in  a  chiton 
or  himation,  which  in  Rome -was  called  a  toga.  It  was 
made  of  wool,  and  was  screened  from  the  vulgar  by  a 
long  veil,  (fiammeum),  of  a  naming  red  color  or  Phoenician 
glow,29  typical  of  her  plebeian  estate.  This  Plaminica  not 
only  represented  and  presided  over,  but  also  performed, 
labor ;  for  she  busied  herself  in  the  toils  of  her  husband, 
the  flamen,  in  the  work  of  the  feasts  and  entertainments. 
The  collegia  were  fond  of  celebrating  by  parading  with 
naming  streamers  and  flags. 

The  worship  of  the  sacred  ibis  has  also  something  to 
do  in  this  connection.  It  is  mentioned  in  compapy  with 
Pomona  and  was  probably  the  sacred  scarlet  ibis,  of  the 
Egyptians,  whose  red  colors  have  ever  been  unscientifically 
mixed  or  confounded  with  the  flamingo.  This  bird, 
agreeably  to  its  name,  flamen,  flaminica,  flamingo  was,  es- 
pecially all  the  wing  part,  of  a  fiery  red  (phoenicopteros). 
The  imagination  of  the  ancients  pictured  the  red  to  be 
emblematic  of  love,30  ardency  and  warmth ;  all  of  which 
were  portrayed  in  the  beams  of  the  sun,  and  this  impres- 
sion chrystalized  into  a  red  color.  But  the  aristocratic 

48  See  Johnson's,  Universel  Cyclopaedia,  Vol.  III.  p.  1,328,  Art.  Pomona; 
Ovid.  Metamorphoses,  XIV.  623,  gays  that  she  was  courted  by  Puemunns  another 
divinity  of  the  Italian  forests  and  gained  her  by  a  trick.  It  is  also  stated  that 
Pomona  had  a  citadel  or  seat  among  sacred  groves  near  Ostia  called  the  Pomonal 
and  that  she  had  a  vicegerent  or  sacerdos—&  man  or  perhaps  woman  chosen  from 
among  the  laboring  element,  who  had  to  rank  last  and  lowest  ot  the  15  llamea 
of  Rome,  From  Varro,  Lingua  Latina,  V.  15,  25 :  "  .  .  .  .  flamiues,  quod  in 
Latio,  capite  velato,  erant  semper  ac  caput  cinctum  habebant  fllo,  flamines  dicti. " 
»  Consult  Flamineus,  sq.  in  any  good  Latin  Lexicon;  Guhl  and  Koner,  p.  537 
so  So  in  Greek  we  have  'Epu6i6s  for  the  heron  presumably  applied  to  both 
these  birds  the  scarlet  ibis  and  the  flamingo  sometimes  adored  for  the  scarle1-  ot 
sacred  ibis.  But  the  'epuSios  was  a  form  of  "epw?  signifying  the  flame  of  love. 
So  Ardea,  the  Latin  for  heron  the  selfsame  bird,  has  its  etymology  in  arde.o  to 
burn  and  blaze.  It  may  therefore  be  strongly  suspected  that  Pomona  and  he 
flimrns  had  something  to  do  with  the  temple  at  Ardea  near  Rome  burned  by 
/Eneas,  and  from  whose  ashes,  phoenix-like,  arose  the  wonierful  red  heron  or 
phoenix.  Nothing  can  gainsay  this,  for  both  ardea  aud  </><mf  are  the  flaming 
reds  of  Latin  and  Greek. 


RED    THE  MONARCH    OF  COLORS.  479 

idea  of  the  ego  as  known  in  the  noble,  opposed  to  the  ig- 
noble or  plebeian,  was  always  of  an  awe-striking  or  im- 
posing hue,  such  as  the  white,  azure,  blue  and  gray. 

Curiously  enough  the  celebrated  sacred  scarlet  ibis  of 
the  ancients  is  found  more  frequently  in  the  Americas  than 
on  the  Nile,  which  leads  to  a  plausible  conjecture  that  this 
heron  was  the  flamingo,  another  red  heron,  migratory 
and  common  on  the  Nile.  These  well-known,  gregarious 
red  birds,  "  when  feeding,  or  at  rest,  owing  to  their  red 
plumage,  have  often  been  likened  to  a  body  of  British 
soldiers.31 

It  is  thus  shown  that  red  is  the  chrystalization  of  all 
dark  hues,  while  white,  in  primitive  notions,  was  a  state, 
purified  altogether  from  color;  and  thus  the  true  aristo- 
cratic symbol.  Labor's  warm,  serum-reddened  currents 
of  love  and  life  and  manly  vigor,  together  with  its  vast  af- 
fixture of  paraphernelia,  which  from  the  mythical  ages 
clustered  around  this  central  color,  was  always  based 
upon  the  opposite  of  those  formidable,  repellent  hues  re- 
siding in  the  awe-inspiring  idea  of  nobility. 

Persons  inclined  to  doubt  may  here  conceive  an  objec- 
tion based  in  the  fact  that  there  was,  common  among  the 
optirnates,  an  aristocratic  or  imperial  purple  and  that  this 
purple  was  not  only  of  a  reddish  hue  but  also  an  august 
color  ;  so  costly  and  grand  that  it  could  not  be  permitted 
by  law  to  be  worn,  except  by  great  dignitaries. 

The  answer  to  this  objection  is,  however,  easily  met. 
In  very  ancient  times  owing  to  the  popularity  of  the  com- 
munal cult,  an  enormous  trade  and  manufacture  of  the 
Tyrian  red  and  purple  was  carried  on.  That  nobody  but 
the  great  masses  dealt  in  this  trade  is  evident  from  the 
fact  that  after  the  rise  of  the  proletarian  power,  Rome 
began  a  conquest  ending  only  in  the  massacre,  subjuga- 
tion and  enslavement  of  these  millions  who  had  sustained 
the  trade.  Rome,  probably  to  curry  favor  with  her  "  dan- 
gerous class"  at  home,  and  after  she  had  reduced  the 
world  by  conquest,  passed  a  law  making  it  a  crime  for 
anybody  to  use  the  red  except  the  nobles.  After  this  law 
went  into  force  in  Phoenicia  the  workingmen  engaged  in 
the  great  and  wide-spread  trade  of  dyeing,  so  completely 
lost  their  business,  that  even  the  secret  of  their  ancient 

*i  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Vol.  IX,  p.  250. 


480  THE  OLD   RED    FLAG. 

and  beautiful  hues  was  lost  and  it  has  never  been  recov- 
ered to  this  day.32  Now  this  all  proves  that,  agreeably  to 
our  views  previously  expressed,  the  purple  came  in  vogue 
with  the  power  of  the  plebs,  who  had  this  beautiful  color; 
since  these  great  conquests  abroad  commenced  less  than 
200  years  before  Christ.  All  agree  with  Polybius  M  who, 
himself  one  of  the  victims  of  these  conquests,  devotes 
pages  to  an  account  of  the  origin  of  Roman  degeneracy. 
When  Rome  suppressed  the  manufacture  of  the  hated 
red  color  of  the  organized  communes  she  herself  adroitly 
donned  the  purple  of  labor's  goddess — "  the  brilliantly 
tinted  garments  "  of  the  priests  of  Isis  and  Osiris,  of  Ceres 
and  Demeter,  of  Pomona  and  her  flaminica,  for  u  a  man- 
tle of  a  Roman  emperor."  So  that  while  it  is  easy  to  show 
that  in  later  times,  when  Rome  was  tumbling  into  that 
great  slave-holding  period  which  brought  degeneracy  and 
death,  she  intriguingly  filched  the  beautiful  color,  and  after 
streaking  it  with  the  old  aristocratic  gray  and  adulterat- 
ing it  with  blue  or  white  or  azure,  she  gave  it  to  her  lords 
and  ladies ;  its  makers  with  their  aged  secret,  she  gave  to 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  gladiatorial  games  to  be  "  butchered 
for  a  Roman  holiday."  But  it  is  not  easy  to  prove  that 
the  purple  containing  the  red  was  used  by  the  impera- 
tores  before  the  conquests.  True,  it  is  so  mentioned; 
but  it  was  not  the  red-purple — only  the  azure-blue  which 
received  this  name. 

It  is  not  in  the  scheme  of  these  arguments  to  attempt 
a  polemic  for  or  against  the  primitive  notions  of  mankind 
in  regard  to  the  choice  of  colors.  We  find  species  of  in- 
nocent consistency  all  through.  As  white  was  che  essence 
or  chrystal  of  cfo'scolor,  symbolizing  purity,  aristocracy — 
to  agathoteron,  the  better  part,  while  its  nuances  of  beau- 
tiful blue,  its  silvered  gray  and  azure,  all  pointed  to  the 
etherial  sky,  lofty,  forbidding  and  sublime,  so  red,  among 
the  divinities  of  a  yielding  or  producing  racs,  was  the  es- 
sence or  chrystalization  of  all  color,  from  the  murky  smut 
of  earth  to  brown  and  dun  at  last  reaching  the  gorgeous 

3*  Consult  Encydopcedia  Britannica,  Vol.  VII.  p  493. 

33  Polybius,  in  his  Histories,  distinctly  states  that  the  decline  of  the  Roman 
honor  and  virtue  began  with  these  conquests.  For  modern  opinion  on  the  date 
of  Koman  decline  see  Bucher  Aufstandt  der  Unfreian  ArbeUer,  where  nnmeroni 
valuable  quotations  are  made  from  Polybius,  Athenseus  and  others,  will  be  found 
of  much  interest,  shedding  a  new  light  upon  the  subject. 


CRISTIANS  ADOPTED    THE  RED.          481 

scarlet  and  the  crimson  coma  of  Apollo,34  or  the  flaming 
chiton,  chlamys,  himation  or  toga,  believed  to  be  the  trail- 
ing robes  of  Demeter  and  her  red  silk,  flame-clad  daughter 
Proserpine  and  all  the  other  protecting  godesses  of  labor 
and  its  products.  This  consistency,  in  harmony  with 
Plato  on  the  one  hand  and  Aristotle  on  the  other,  is  borne 
out  alike  by  science,  and  by  trial  of  an  immemorial  du- 
ration. 

The  Christians  when  they  afterwards  came,  adopted 
the  red,  wherever  they  planted  among  the  communes ;  and 
in  our  next  chapter  we  shall  show  this  to  have  been  the 
case  at  almost  every  instance,  in  their  earlier  career.  So 
soon  as  priest-power  showed  itself  the  old  white  came 
back;  and  accordingly  we  find  the  white  standard  at  Rome, 
•while  the  red  banner  remains  at  Auvergne,  Paris  and 
London,  with  its  gules  in  England  and  its  gueules  in 
France.  Everything  throwing  light  upon  the  subject, 
shows  the  same  preference  of  mediaeval  guilds,  for  red 
among  the  poorer  or  working  class  who  learned  to  adopt 
Christianity  because  unlike  the  old  Paganism,  it  declared 
for  the  gradual  emancipation  of  slaves.  And  they  have 
never  to  this  day,  given  up  their  pristime  banner.  / 

We  have  mentioned  the  extreme  antiquity  of  the  red 
color  as  applied  to  ensigns,  symbols,  signs  and  types  of 
the  plebeian  classes.  These  curious  facts  came  down  to 
us  through  the  industry-protecting  priesthood  when  they 
appear  in  histories  and  geographies,  and  through  inscrip- 
tions, when  they  appear  as  relics  of  the  proletaries  them- 
selves. This  priesthood  which  transmits  the  records  of 
the  red  color  is,  so  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  ascertain, 
only  that  of  Minerva,  goddess  of  mechanical  labor  and  la- 
borers, and  Ceres,  goddess,  or  tutelary  divinity  who  con- 
trolled agriculture.35  These  great  mythical  powers,  im- 
plicitly believed  in  for  so  many  ages,  had  different  names 
in  different  countries;  but  preserved  with  a  wonderful 
uniformity  the  same  functions  everywhere. 

We  carry  the  investigation  to  England,  the  ancient 
Britannia,  now  known  through  cumulative  evidence  of 

84  There  has  been  found  (see  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Vol.  II.  Art.  Apollo},  a 
fine  round  bronze  head  of  Apollo  stamped  on  the  silver  coin  of  Clazomense, 
preserved  in  the  British  Museum.  This  venerable  midget  is  a  curiosity. 

35  See  Gerhard,  Antihe  Denkmaler  with  Ta/«/,  CXX.  1,  showing  image  of  Cy- 
bele  in  her  chariot  with  lions  and  two  figures  clad  in  the  toga. 


482  THE   OLD   KED  FLAG. 

comparative  history,  to  be  as  ancient  as  Greece  or  Egypt, 
and  centuries  older  than  Rome. 

Exactly  as  in  the  case  of  Greece  and  Rome,  the  aristo- 
cratic and  Druidical  priests  were  clothed  in  white,36  so 
likewise  the  Druids  of  the  aristocratic  religion,  like  the 
southern  European,  are  found  to  have  been  the  most 
cruel  and  bloodthirsty  of  the  ancients,  nurturing  the  prac- 
tice of  slavery  and  the  sacrifice  of  human  beings.  In  fact 
these  abominable  atrocities  were  found  later  by  the 
Romans  to  so  far  surpass  their  own  spirit  of  cruelty 31  that 
they  sent  Agricola  to  their  fastness  in  the  island  of  Mona 
with  an  army,  who  so  completely  destroyed  them  that  they 
never  again  arose  to  become  a  great  power.  The  account 
of  the  ferocity  of  this  ancient  aristocratic  priest-power  of 
the  Druids,  in  their  methods  of  human  sacrifice  is  too 
shocking  to  be  recounted.38 

But  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  priests  of  the  state 
religion  of  ancient  England  were  clad  in  white,  the  com- 
mon or  popular  faith  was  that  of  sun-worship.  Apollo, 
with  all  his  relationship  by  similarity  of  functions,  to 
Ceres,  on  the  one  hand,  and  Minerva  on  the  other,  was  a 
protector  and  patron  of  industry  by  reason  of  his  being 
the  sun  himself.  He  blazed  forth  with  wondrous  beams 
of  crimson  over  old  England  as  well  as  Europe  and  Asia, 
and  was  early  the  myth  of  that  land  and  its  people.39 
Perhaps  there  were  two  sets  of  opinions,  one  opposing  the 
other  among  the  Druids. 

This  blazing  Phoebus,  with  his  transcendental  effulgence 
had  to  be  imitated  in  the  symbols  of  human  labor;  and 
how  to  make  the  crimson  dyes  of  his  train  of  deities  was 
no  small  matter.  But  here  the  land  of  the  Britons  comes 

«•  Hughes.  Horae  Britannicae,  Vol.  I.  p .  158 :  "  The  Drnid  priest  wore  a  white 
robe,  and  the  Sard  sky-blue  but  the  Ovati,  green.  These  different  colours,  were, 
the  first,  the  emblem  of  purity  and  peace ;  the  other,  of  truth,  and  the  la»t,  the 
verdent  dress  of  nature,  in  the  meads  and  woods."  They  sacrificed  human  beinga 
and  white  bulls. 

37  Campbell,  Political  Survey,  I.  p.  525 ;  III.  p.  292 ;  IV.  pp.  475,  480.  Wm. 
Camden,  Britannia,  Druidcs;  Borlase,  Cornwall. 

ss  We  refer  the  reader  to  Hughes,  flora  Britannicce,  Vol.  I.  pp.  232-250,  who 
derives  the  facts  contained  in  his  dissertation,  from  Tacitus,  Annales,  XIV.  cap. 
29,  for  the  Britons  and  Lucan,  for  the  grove  of  sacrifice  at  Marseilles  in  Gaul. 

39  Consult  Idem,  p.  261.  The  St9nehenge  Britons  were  eun-worgjiipers ;  that 
is,  they  deified  the  god  of  blaze.  Minerva  was  their  protectress  of  inTsntion  and 
manual  labor.  Stonehenge  appears  to  have  been  an  enormous  temple,  built  of 
heavy  rocks  and  fashioned  in  a  simi-circle,  having  no  rroof .  For  a  full  descrip- 
tion of  Stonehenge,  its  structure  and  its  surrounding  influences,  see  idem,  pp. 


RED    DYES  MADE    OF  BRITISH   TIN.         483 

in  for  a  share  of  our  observation ;  for  it  furnished  the  tin 
of  which  the  dye  was  made.  After  the  Phoenicians  found 
the  tin  mines  of  Cornwall  and  the  Scilly  Isles  (the  cassi- 
terides),  red  colors  were  mostly  produced  in  Sidon  and 
Tyre,  their  southern  home. 

Now,  without  enlarging  upon  this  matter  as  touching 
the  earlier  use  of  the  red  colors  of  England  and  the  origin 
of  the  British  gules,  let  us  look  at  the  phenomenal  man- 
ner in  which  the  habit  of  red  colors  has  clung  to  these 
people.  Every  one  familiar  with  the  heraldic  symbols 
has  observed  the  frequent  mention  of  the  gules.40  This, 
during  the  mediaeval  age,  was  a  favorite  color  with  the 
common  people. 

It  would  be  well  to  show,  in  company  with  the  English 
guilds,  those  also  of  the  French,  who  are  derived  from 
the  ancient  Gauls.  The  reason  of  this  is,  that  the  trade 
union  system  of  the  Romans,  elsewhere  elaborately  de- 
scribed, struck  into  England  about  the  same  time  that 
it  was  popular  in  Gaul;  and  as  the  unions  used  the  ban- 
ner at  Rome,  the  practice  extended  to  Britain  and  Gaul. 
The  Crispins,  who  founded  the  order  of  shoemakers  at 
Soissons,  are  the  first  unions  we  know  of  in  the  north  of 
France.  The  story  of  the  brothers  Crispin  and  Crispinius 
belongs  to  the  bloody  days  of  Diocletian 4l  whose  terrible 
persecution  of  the  early  Christians  added  them  as  victims 
of  martyrdom;  and  they  have  ever  since  been  the  tutelary 
divinities  or  patrons,  guarding  the  shoemakers'  art — an- 
other example  of  the  power  of  superstition  to  perpetuate 
itself  through  the  generations.  So  the  shoemakers  took 
the  red  flag;  for  we  have  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the 
color  of  the  shoemakers'  flag  in  the  province  of  Auvergne, 
given  us  by  Bouillet,  in  which  are  massed  numbers  of 
banners  that  were  used  by  many  trade  organizations  dur- 
ing the  middle  ages  down  to  their  suppression  in  1789." 

«  See  Encyclopaedia  Britannfca,  Vol.  XI.  p.  616,  9th  edition.  Art.  Heraldry; 
Here,  in  a  cut  (fig.  3),  in  which  9  escutcheons  are  represented,  3  are  of  a  red 
color,  one  being  a  genuine  gules.  The  art  of  dyeing  brilliant  colors  is  very  an- 
cient. The  chasuble  or  red  mummy  cloth  found  A.  D.  1296  now  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  London,  which  is  "purpureo  aliquantulum  sanguined,'' proves  that  the 
olier  Phoenix  purple  was  blood  red.  Comp.  idem,  Vol.  XVIII.  p.  817.  The 
celebrated  tin  dyes  of  the  Phoenicians  owed  much  to  Britain.  Consult  Hughes, 
Ifarce  Britanmctx,  Vol.  I.  p.  47.  It  colored  the  finest  textiles  a  pure  red  This 
was  going  on  long  before  Abraham  or  the  Trojan  war ;  and  Britain  yielded  the 
tin  for  the  scarlet  dyes. 

41  Consult  chapter  xi.  pp.  372-388,  of  our  History  of  the  Ancient  TradeVnions. 

*a  Histoire  des  Communites  des  Arts  et  Metiers  de  i  Auvergne,  Afcompagnee  des 


484  THE  OLD  RED  FLAG. 

The  cordonniers  or  shoemakers,  of  the  middle  ages  and 
down  to  their  suppression,  were  in  all  respects  the  same 
as  in  A.  D.  280,  when  founded  by  St.  Crispin  and  his 
brother,  who  are  said  to  have  stolen  the  leather  or  raw 
material  in  their  zeal  to  make  shoes  for  the  poor.  They 
even  retain  the  same  name.  They  held  the  same  day  of 
the  same  year  (October  25th),  for  their  feasts,  parades 
and  conventional  jubilees,  and  carried  the  same  red  ban- 
ner. This  is  the  flag  which  the  law  of  Theodosius  excused 
on  account  of  the  men  having  been  guilty  of  no  wrong, 
and  having  always  been  "  found  peaceful,  pious  and  up- 
right."43 The  French  called  the  flag  or  standard-bearer 
of  these  unions  a  porte-banniere,  the  Romans  a  signifer. 
These  banner-bearers  or  more  probably  banner  makers 
had  a  union  by  themselves;  for  a  magistrate  or  president  is 
found  in  an  old  inscription,44  bearing  words  to  that  effect. 
Returning  to  the  trustworthy  member  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor  and  of  the  Institute,  M.  Bouillet,  we  find  him  pre- 
senting the  red  flag  of  the  shoemakers  of  the  middle  ages 
and  later,  categorically  somewhat  as  follows : 

In  Auvergne,  city  of  Brioude  with  its  antique  social 
curiosities  and  its  communal  college,  the  shoemakers  had 
their  union  amalgamated  with  the  tanners,  glove  makers, 
furriers  and  cobblers.46  Their  banner,  alike  for  these 
four  trades,  was  all  blood  red,  except  a  border  of  gold  and 
a  gilt  fox's  pelt  hanging  in  the  center.  The  staff  was 
gilt  and  hung  with  beautiful  tassels.  An  exquisite  pic- 
ture of  this  banner  is  given  in  plate  33,  fig.  2. 

In  the  old  town  of  Ambert,  department  of  Puy  de 
Dome,  the  shoemakers  were  amalgamated  with  the  saddle 

Bann&res  que  portaient  ces  Ccmmunautes  avant  1789.  Par  J.  B.  Bouillet,  Paris, 
1857. 

43  Codex  Theodosii,  Notul.  Gothof.  leg.  2,  tit.  vii.  lib.  XIV.  De  Excusationibus 

Artiflcum.  "  Signiferi, qui  scilicet  signa,  et  in  his  deorum,  ferebant  in 

pompis.  festis,  ludicris  gentiliciis."  etc. 

**  Muratorius,  Thesaurus  Veterwn  Inscriptionum,  25,  50;  Granier  ffistoire  dea 
Classes  Ouvrieres,  p.  323;  "Venerable  corps  des  maitres  porte-bannieres  aux 
fetes,  et  de  lenrs  nonbreux  varietes,  depuis  les  signiferi,  qui  sont  le  genre  jusqu' 
aux  cantabrarii  qui  sont  P  espece."  Comp.  Orell.  Ina-iptionum  La.tina.rwn  Col- 
lectio,  No.  4,282. 

45  Bouillet,  Communantes,  p.  109.  describes  the  relations  of  the  shoemakers 
with  the  cobblers  as  follows :  "On  comprendra  facilement  qu'il  a  du  arriver  dc 
vives  contestations  entre  les  deux  corps  de  metiers,  de  cordonniers  et  de  save- 
tiers;  les  uns  achetaient  des  bottes  ou  des  souliers  vieux,  les  autres  confection- 
naient  certains  articles  de  leur  6tat,  hors  des  conditions  prescrites  par  leur  regle- 
rnent,  aussi  les  cours  et  tribunaux  entendirent  eouvent  leurs  griefs  pour  ces  faits 
ou  pour  les  visiles  des  uns  Chez  les  autres.'' 


CRIMSON,    TEE   SHOEMAKERS    COLOR.      485 

and  bridle  makers.46  Their  ensign,  shown  in  plate  12,  fig. 
1,  was  of  the  same  shape  as  that  of  Brioude  ;  about  one- 
half  of  the  surface  of  the  canvass  within  the  border  was 
of  a  brilliant  red  color.  The  whole  banner  was  red,  blue 
and  gold. 

An  exquisite  red  banner  was  that  of  the  shoemakers  of 
Clermont.  In  the  center  of  a  similarly  escutcheon-shaped 
canvass  is  a  shoe-knife  with  gilt  handle  and  steel  colored 
blade  of  nearly  the  same  shape  that  we  see  to-day  in  any 
ehoeshop.  A  gold  border  shiningly  fringed  the  whole, 
except  the  top  and  like  the  others,  the  standard  and  tas- 
sels were  gilt.  All  the  canvass  is  a  flaming  red.  It  pre- 
sents, indeed  a  beautiful  exhibit  of  the  old  French  ori- 
flamme  and  the  older,  pre-Christian  FLAG  and  flamma 
which  we  have  described  as  the  ensign  hues  of  the  work- 
men's goddesses,  so  familiar  and  so  endeared  to  the  Latin 
lowly  race.*' 

The  ancient  city  of  Nemetum  and  seat  of  the  Caesars, 
Augustonemetum,  which  was  one  of  the  early  Christian 
•centers  (A.  D.  250),  became  the  Clermont-Ferrand  of  the 
present  day.  Here  the  collegia  and  communes  of  the 
early  Christians  long  ago  planted  and  always  maintained 
themselves  even  through  the  persecutions  of  Diocletian 
and  Maximian.  No  place  seems  to  have  more  warmly 
•cultivated  the  ancient,  or  rejected  the  innovations  of  mod- 
ern life,  than  Clermont.  The  foregoing  description  of 
the  shoemakers  of  Clermont  is  given  by  Bouillet.48  Momm- 
sen,  in  his  history  of  Rome,  makes  this  volcanic  and  ster- 

46  Idem,  p.  110,  and  plate  12,  fig   1,    "  Leur  banniere  portait : 
"  Tierce  en  pal :  ar  —   *\  er  de  gueules,  a 
un  conieau  a  pied  d'argent,  einmanche 
d'  or  etc.,  et  au  3  d'  or,  a  une  bride 
de  cheval  de  gueules." 

*i  It  may  be  well  here  to  quote  some  of  the  definationg  of  the  English  gules, 
French  gueules,  Latin,  gulae  because  though  somewhat  rare,  they  appear  in  an- 
cient and  mediaeval  heraldry:  Stormoutn,  English  Dictionary:  GULES,  noun, 
plural,  pronounced  gult.  [French  gneules,  red  or  sanguine  in  blazon— from 
guenle,  mouth,  the  throat  I,  in  heraldry,  a  term  denoting  red,  represented  in  en- 
gravings in  upright  lines. 

Worcester,  English  Dictionary.  (Unabridged),  defines  it  thus:  GULES,  (gnlz) 
n.  Fr.  gueules.— L,  gula  the  throat;  or  the  Ar.  gula,  a  rose,  Fairholt — "  Corrup- 
tion of  gueules.  red  Fr,  which  is  probably  from  the  Pers.  guhl,  a  rose.'* 

Webster.  English  Dictionary,  (Unabridged; :  "Gui-ES,  (ffulz),  n.  [Fr.  gueules, 
from  Lat.  gula,  reddened  skin].  (Her.)  A  red  color — intended,  perhaps,  to  rep- 
resent courage,  animation  or  hardihood,  end  indicated  In  engraved  figures  of 
escutcheons  and  the  like,  by  straight  perpendicular  lines." 

<s  Bouillet,  Communautes  d'  Auvergne,  plate  11,  fig.  3.  On  p.  110,  is  the  de- 
scription as  follows ;  "  A  Clermont ;  De  gueults,  a  an  tranchet  a  lame  d'  argent 
emmanche  d'  or." 


486  TEE    OLD   RED   FLAG 

ile  region  of  Auvergne  an  example  in  proof  that  the  intro- 
duction of  modern  innovations  would  result  in  the  place 
becoming  uninhabitable,49  although  it  has  withstood  many 
misfortunes,  natural  and  ecclesiastical,  and  is  yet  a  pop- 
ulous and  thriving  region.  Here,  where  ancient  customs 
have  so  tenaciously  clung,  we  find  them  near  the  close  of 
the  last  century,  still  with  their  naming  red  banner;  and 
no  amount  of  prejudice  could  change  the  working  people 
from  its  use  at  the  feasts  and  parades,  just  as  they  wer& 
doing  in  the  days  of  Socrates  or  Tiberius  Gracchus. 

One  banner  was  a  flaming  red  without  a  spot  or  blemish 
of  any  other  color  except  in  the  center,  where  stood  the- 
Virgin  Mary,  dressed  in  silver  gray,  holding  in  her  arms 
the  naked  infant.  It  symbolizes  the  peaceful  handicraft  of 
the  shoemakers,  carders,  weavers  and  several  others. 
This  central  picture  of  the  Madonna  or  Notre  Dame,  hold- 
ing the  new-born  child,  as  represented  on  the  plate,  is  artis- 
tic; and  standing  upon  a  background  of  gorgeous  red,  pre- 
sents with  its  gold  fringes,  its  slender  staff  and  its  tassels, 
an  admirable  piece  of  art.50  Among  the  various  unions 
amalgamated  under  this  banner  were  the  masons;  thus 
showing  the  red  banner  to  have  been  an  emblem  of  that 
trade. 

We  do  not  pretend  to  say  that  all  the  shoemakers  of 
the  mediaeval  ages  used  the  red  flag.  Notable  exceptions 
are  given  in  plates  9,  fig.  2,  of  the  city  of  Maringues,  and 
plate  11,  fig.  4,  of  Riom,  but  nearly  all  of  those  given  re- 
tain this  color.  Out  of  the  eight  shoemakers'  unions  rep- 
resented on  the  plates  no  less  than  five  sported  the  red 
color,  some  of  them  retaining  the  peace  hues  of  the  di- 
vinities unalloyed  by  anything  except  the  device  of  the 
craft,  generally  placed  in  the  center  of  the  canvass. 

In  England  we  likewise  find  the  gules  upon  thousands 
of  escutcheons  from  as  early  as  Constantine  the  Great. 
It  is  there  yet.  The  habit  of  holding  up  the  red  as  a 

49  History  of  Rome,  CEng.  trans.),  Vol  I.  p.  62,  quotes  Durean  de  la  Malle, 
Economic  Politigue  des  Romains ,  II.  p.  226.  In  this  passage  it  is  mentioned  that 
each  eights  as  a  woman  yoked  or  harnessed  by  the  side  of  a  cow,  are  still  of 
common  accurrence. 

so  See  plate  12,  fig.  2.  of  Bonillet,  Hisioire  des  C'ommunautesdes^Arts  et  Metiers. 
The  description  of  the  plate  is  on  pages  110-111,  as  follows :  "A  Montferrand, 
les  cordonniers,  reunis  aux  cardeurs,  anx  tisserands.  aux  marchands  revendeurs 
aux  hoteliers,  aux  maijons,  etc.,  portaient  tine  banniere:  De  gueules,  aNotre-- 
Dame  d'  argent,  couronnee  d'  or.'1 


THE  PEACE-BANNER   STILL  WAVING      487 

symbol  of  some  tutelary  divinity — nobody  knows  what 
because  everybody  has  forgotten — clings  to  the  British 
Isles  with  a  stubborn  tenacity  to  this  day.  How  comes 
it  that  the  military  coat  is  red  ?  That  French  soldiers  in 
parade  look  like  a  prairie  on  fire?  That  in  blazonry  the 
standards,  and  in  shipping,  the  streamers,  pennons,  jacks 
and  merchant-standards,61  especially  those  representing 
peace,  so  many  are  of  this  color?  The  reasons  for  it  are 
two-fold.  First,  they  are  the  most  conspicuous  and  beau- 
tiful and  consequently  the  best.  As  proof  of  this  we 
find  in  America  and  elsewhere  the  blood  red  storm  sig- 
nals, in  Switzerland  the  red  arms,  in  Denmark,  Great 
Britain,  Norway,  Turkey,  Morocco,  Peru,  Chili,  Bolivia 
and  many  other  countries,  the  red  merchants  flags  and 
ensigns  ;  red  occupying  almost  the  entire  surface  of  the 
canvass.  So  also,  the  British  jack. 

In  the  next  place,  these  were  the  colors  originally  em- 
ployed to  represent  the  same  object  in  ancient  times  when, 
in  the  imagination  of  men,  red  was  believed  to  be  holy 
like  the  gorgeous  streams  of  light  from  the  rising  or  setting 
sun,  which  shaped  itself  on  the  simple,  primeval  mind,  into 
an  omnipotent  being  with  human  form,  like  Apollo  and 
Ceres,  who  were  believed  to  be  guardians  of  labor  and 
its  products.  If  then,  it  is  the  best,  is  still  used  because 
best,  and  if,  after  a  trial  of  an  seon  of  time  it  be  found 
that  the  lowly  class  thus  symbolized  by  it,  judged  rightly 
ten  thousand  years  ago,  and  have  preserved  it  in  their 
unions  and  hearts  through  this  long  period,  can  there  be 
any  consistency  in  a  paltry,  time-serving-prejudice  or  its 
tricks  and  intolerant  schemes  against  it  ?  We  leave  this 
question  to  science. 

We  are  told  by  antiquarians  that  when  the  Romans 
settled  Kent,  called  by  them  Cantiopolis,  large  numbers  of 
the  trade  unionists  came  from  Italy  and  there  established 
themselves ;  and  engaging  with  the  natives  in  the  arts  of 
brass  and  woodwork,  taught  them  the  use  of  the  turning 
lathe  and  other  machinery.  So  we  find  this  section  the 
chosen  nucleus  of  several  trade  unions  at  this  day ;  and 
right  here  and  in  London  an  hour's  walk  up  the  Thames 

"  See  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Vol.  JX.  pp.  241-245  Art.  Flag.  Let  the 
reader  open  a  late  edition  of  Webster  or  Worcester's  Unabridged  Dictionary  to 
the  word  flag,  and  hi*  eye  will  meet  as  it  were,  a  flame  of  flre. 


488  THE  OLD   MED   FLAG. 

is  where  the  typical  British  gules  is  found  in  greatest 
abundance;  for  the  same  phenomenon  of  transmission 
makes  London  the  bed-rock  of  modern  socialism.  Previ- 
ously to  the  introduction  of  the  mechanic  arts  this  terri- 
tory was  a  wilderness ;  and  the  people  lived  in  tents,  hovels, 
huts  and  caves,  in  the  rudest  state,  almost  without  clothes 
or  houses.  Romans  taught  and  helped  them  to  construct 
habitations,  married  with  them  and  mixed,  as  is  now  be- 
coming known,  planting  among  them  all  their  home  habits 
and  customs.52  Many  of  these  Romans  on  their  long 
journey  through  Gaul  to  Britain,  lingered  on  the  way ; 
and  those  were  the  workingmen  who  planted  the  flag  in 
such  places  as  Auvergne ;  for  Romans  were  in  England 
55  years  before  Christ.  We  will  therefore  suppose  that 
if  they  planted  it  in  Auvergne  they  did  so  in  Kent,  and 
having  less  positive  evidence  from  the  latter  we  allow  our- 
selves to  draw  comparisons  by  what  we  positively  know 
of  the  former,  which  was  a  way-station  of  the  Italian  emi- 
grants. 

As  we  have  spoken  of  carpenters,  let  us  take  this  trade 
in  evidence.  Drawing  from  Bouillet  who  has  so  faithfully 
worked  this  territory,  we  find  the  red  banner  to  have  been 
used  by  them  as  follows:  Carpenters  with  patron  Saint 
Joseph  and  with  day  of  celebrations,  the  19th  of  March, 
(March  was  the  natalmonth  of  Ceres,  Minerva  and  Apollo)." 

Taking  all  the  principal  trades  we  might  suppose  to  have 
been  introduced  into  Kent  and  London  at  the  same  time 
that  they  existed  in  Auvergne,  we  find  that  in  the  latter 
place,  the  bakers'  annual  feast  days  were  in  the  spring  of 
the  year,  corresponding  to  the  festival  days  of  Ceres,  god- 
dess of  grain-growing,  and  Dionysus  and  the  other  labor 
gods.  Here  we  have  in  Bouillet's  portrayal  of  the  trades 

62  Comp.  E.  H.  Rogers'  correct  and  able  statement  in  McNeill's  Labor  Problem 
of  to-day,  p.  335,  drawing  from  Coote,  Romans  of  Britain.  "Rome  held  posses- 
6ion  of  the  island  more  than  400  years,  and  it  was  never  abandoned  by  those  de- 
ecended  from  the  Komans."  Mr.  Rogers  speaks  of  the  mechanics  wlio  early 
emigrated  to  Massachusetts,  as  the  '  'Men  of  Kent." 

»*  Histoire  des  Communautes  des  Arts  et  Metiers  ef  Auvergne,  pp.  80-83 :  "  On 
peut  faire  nue  etude  tres  curieuse  du  role  que  joua  la  cnarpenterie  militaire,  dans 
la  seconde  expedition  de  Pepin-le-Bref,  en  761.  contre  Gaifre,  due  d'Aquitaine, 
Au  siege  qu'i  fit  subira  la  ville  de  Clermont,  profltant  de  1'experience  des  Lom- 
bards, il  fit  dresser  contre  les  murs  de  formidables  beliers,  des  poutres  enormes 
<jui.  mises  en  mouvement  par  des  leviera  et  des  cordages  et  roulant  sur  des  cy- 
hndres,  par  1 'impulsion  que  leur  donnaient  les  charpenticrs  et  leurs  habiles  ouv- 
riera,  heurtaient  de  leur  front  de  f  er  les  murailles  et  les  mettaient  en  pieces.  On 
peut  le  voir  encore  dans  d'tutres  siegee  que  soatinrent  Clermont  et  Montferrand 
en  1121  et  1126." 


COPIED   INTO    MEDIAEVAL    TIMES.  489 

•unions  of  Auvergne,  six  banners  in  red  out  of  eleven 
mentioned  for  the  bakers,  and  the  six  red  flags  were  for 
the  towns  of  Ambert,  Brioude,  Issoire  and  Thiers,  where 
the  flag  was  all  red  except  the  central  device ;  and  Riom 
and  Saint-Flour,  where  they  painted  a  part  only  of  its  sur- 
face in  red. 

Turning  to  Depping,54  and  Shepheard  who  wrote  a  curi- 
ous statement  on  guild  laws  in  1650,  at  London,  we  find 
that  there  were  unions  in  both  London  and  Paris  during 
the  same  period,  or  from  the  time  of  Constantine  the 
Great;  and  if  so,  the  habits  of  the  people  of  Auvorgne 
must  have  been  about  the  same  as  those  of  the  Parisians 
and  Londoners  because  France  was  the  territory  of  the 
overland  emigration  from  Italy.  The  red  banner  appears 
to  have  been  colored  after  the  tutelary  divinities  or  pa- 
tron saints  whose  feast  days  still  corresponded  with  those 
of  the  proto-divinities,  tenaciously  conserved  through  the 
ages,  from  the  myths  by  the  power  of  habit. 

But  we  may  follow  this  interesting  subject  farther,  tak- 
ing the  various  other  trades  together.  Beginning  with 
towns  that  adopted  a  banner  as  their  device  for  arts  and 
trades  in  general,  we  find  at  Langheac,  the  flag  half  red ; 
Chaudesaigues,  half  red ;  Pont  du  Chateau,  half  red ;  Vic, 
Vic-le-Comte  and  Saint  Germain,  largely  red ;  while  many 
of  the  trades  residing  in  these  towns  had  all  red  for  their 
•banner. 

In  Mont-Ferrand,  the  carders,  masons,  weavers,  small 
dealers  and  tavern  keepers  had  blood  red.  In  Aurillac 
and  Riom,  the  saddle  and  bridle  makers,  confectioners, 
cheese  handlers,  locksmiths,  shoemakers,  cutlers  and  silk 
workers  all  had  red  and  a  number  a  bright  fiery  color  all 
over  except  the  device. 

At  Theirs,  the  marble  cutters,  glaziers  and  cutters  had 
•all  red.  At  Ambert,  besides  the  shoemakers,  already  men- 
tioned, the  saddle  and  bridle  makers  and  weavers  had  a 
red  banner,  or  one  with  more  or  less  red  on  it. 

Clei'mont  de  Cournieres  and  Saint  Germain-Lembron 
had  total  red  except  central  device.  So  Saint  Germain, 
the  celebrated  industrial  suburb  of  Paris  named,  as  it  ap- 

M  G.  B.  Depping.  Rfglement  tur  It!  Arts  '.I  Metiers  dt  Paris,  this  author  quotes 
*  itate  regulation  covering  the  tame  period,  which  is  curious  a*  showing  the  hon- 
esty of  freedmen  from  tricks  »uch  as  characterize  the  present  competitive  syg- 
•tem,  causing  much  adulteration  of  manufacture!*. 


490  THE   OLD  RED  FLAG. 

pears  from  this  more  aged  labor-hive  of  southwest  France,, 
still  clings  to,  and  fights  for,  its  ideal  red  as  a  tutelary  or 
patron  color. 

The  tutelary  banner  of  Pierrefort,  had  the  top  red  far 
enough  down  to  cover  more  than  one  third  of  its  surface, 
the  rest  having  several  common  colors  but  no  white. 

At  Clermont-Ferrand  the  joiners  had  a  red  plane,  and 
the  marble-cutters  other  similar  red  objects  for  a  device, 
while  at  Brioude,  shoemakers,  tavern  keepers,  tanners, 
glove  makers,  furriers  and  cobblers,  had  each  all  naming 
red,  and  their  parades,  which  used  to  be  celebrated  oil 
the  llth  of  November,  must  have  been  a  sightly  spectacle 
indeed,  all  through  the  middle  ages.  They  were  devout 
Christians  although  their  worship  had  differentiated  in 
course  of  time  from  that  of  Minerva  whose  feast  day  was 
the  same  time  of  the  year,  whose  colors  were  the  same, 
and  whose  cult  had  only  changed  from  that  of  a  tulelary 
heathen  divinty,  to  that  of  a  Christian  patron. 

The  banner  of  the  painters  of  Montaigut  was  entirely 
of  a  blazing  red.  Hatters  and  glaziers  of  Saint  Flour  had 
their  banner  red  at  the  top ;  and  the  hatters,  saddlers, 
tinners,  butchers  and  tavern  keepers  of  Issoire  had  a  great 
red  ring  like  the  sun's  corona.  Surgeons  and  apotheca- 
caries,  so  well-known  to  have  been  classed  among  the  plebs 
in  former  times,  had  all  red  banners  in  Aurillac.  The 
tanners,  glove  makers  and  curriers  of  this  place  also 
flamed  in  the  same  color.65 

Abundance  of  other  evidence  might  be  here  brought 
forward;  for  the  immense  field  of  Europe  is  scarcely  yet 
entered  upon. 

If  any  one  should  still  contend  that  the  red  flag  or  the 
red  color  was  warlike  and  antagonistical  to  life  and  its 
peaceful  pursuits  and  labors,  let  him  further  observe  the 
fact  that  in  those  lands  where  the  communes  left  their 
traces  most  plentifully  on  their  inscriptions,  will  be  found 
the  red  banner  to  this  day.  Modern  Turkey  occupies  one 
of  these  localties.  And  what  is  the  merchant  standard  of 
modern  Turkey  ?  A  blood  red  color  tinges  every  shred 
of  the  canvass  except  an  exiguous  star  and  a  tiny  crescent 

**  See  Index  and  plates  of  Bouillet,  Histoire  des  Communaulfs  des  Arlet  <t  Me- 
tiers de  L'Auvergne,  where  still  more  material  may  be  found  to  couniin  these 
•tatemente. 


SAME  COLOR  STILL,  FOR  MERCHANT-MEN,    m 

moon,  the  wife  of  the  flaming  Apollo !  Certainly  no  war- 
fare is  symbolized  in  the  peaceful  standard  of  a  merchant 
vessel. 

Morocco,  Algiers  and  Tunis,  the  north  coast  of  Africa, 
once  occupied  by  the  Carthagenians  and  other  colonies 
of  Phoenicians,  still  have  a  flag  which  is  totally  red.  When 
the  origin  of  this  habit  is  traced,  it  will  be  revealed  that 
Baal?  the  great  divinity  of  the  Phoenicians,  whose  attri- 
butes  were  the  same  as  Ceres,  whose  colors  were  red, 
whose  home  was  that  of  the  inventive  and  ingenius  dyers, 
and  who  was  the  tutelary  divinity  or  patron  of  labor,  was 
the  huge  sun-god  that  inspired  the  color  by  his  glowing 
beams. 

The  northern  coast  of  Africa  was  colonized  by  the 
Punic  race  whose  name  both  in  Greek  and  Latin  is  the 
every  day  word  for  red.  Both  Turkey,  which  succeeded 
to  Grseco-Phaenician  domination  in  Asia,  and  Morocco,. 
Tunis  and  Algiers,  which  succeeded  to  Carthagenian  rule 
and  influence,  still  retain  for  this  peace-color  the  red  in  its 
altogether  unadulterated  state. 

Spain,  the  ancient  Iberia,  a  colony  of  Phoenicia  which 
also  planted  the  red  banner  in  the  land  of  Viriatlms,  con- 
veyed this  habit  to  Peru,  where  we  still  find  the  banner 
and  merchant  standard  all  red,  except  a  white  stripe 
through  the  middle.  In  Eygpt  the  peace-standard  is. 
blood  red  with  the  exception  of  a  cresent  of  the  moon. 

Great  Britain,  likewise  a  colony  of  Phoenicia  so  ancient 
that  the  records  descend  to  us  only  in  the  tin  tincture 
furnished  by  her  mines,  of  which  the  red  dyes  were  made, 
preserves  to  this  day  an  otherwise  unaccountable  habit  of 
displaying  the  red  gules,  and  her  merchant  standard  is  all 
red  except  a  corner  and  even  this  is  partly  red.  The 
Romans  who  later  settled  Britain  only  confirmed  the  same 
habit;  since  the  labor  communes  of  Rome  had  borrowed 
their  tutelary  divinities  from  Asia. 

Thus  Phoenicia  whose  seons  of  antiquity  make  her  the 
proto-nursery  of  man  along  with  central  Asia,  is  alike,  the 
home  of  Baal  "  the  sun-god,  conceived  as  the  male  princi- 
pal of  life  and  reproduction  in  nature,"  M  and  the  mother 
of  almost  all  the  colonies  where  sunbeams  paint  the  fu- 
ture flags  and  banners  of  the  myriads  of  toil  whose  com- 

66  Encyclf'fCedia  Uriiunnita,  Vol.  III.  p.  152. 


492  TEE   OLD  RED   FLAG. 

munal  culture  was  one  of  peace,  equality  and  good  will  to 
man. 

Very  much  more  evidence  might  be  adduced  in  proof 
of  the  red  banner  having  descended  to  the  working  fam- 
ily of  man,  as  a  legacy  from  ancient  usages  religions 
and  beliefs;  and  showing  that  while  memory  and  use  have 
traditionally  adhered,  the  superstitious  reasons  for  much, 
have  long  been  forgotten,  though  the  economical  reasons 
have  remained.  We  submit  these  curious  points  to  fur- 
ther study  by  antiquaries  with  the  remark  that  the  most 
striking  feature  of  these  phenomena  is,  that  feast-days  of 
the  middle  ages  correspond  for  the  peculiar  crafts,  very 
nearly  with  those  of  the  same  crafts  and  same  divinities 
in  the  remotest  antiquity  of  which  we  have  been  able  to 
trace  traditional  and  palseographic  records. 


CUAPTEB   XXIII. 

THE   TRUE   MESSIAH. 

FOUNDERS  OF  GREAT  INSTITUTIONS  COMPARED 

How  THE  REAL  MESSIAH  found  Things  at  His  Advent  on  Earth — 
Palestine — Syria — Rhodes  and  the  Islands — Suffering  Con- 
dition of  Labor — Seeds  of  the  Revolution  already  Sown — 
Further  Analysis  of  the  Conditions — The  Eranoi  and  Thiasoi 
—  Orgeons  and  Essenes — Falsehoods  regarding  the  Bacchantes. 

AFTER  417  years,  from  the  strike  of  the  20,000  miners 
and  artisans  at  the  Laurian  mines  in  Greece,  and  70  years 
from  the  last  strike-war — that  of  the  gladiators  under 
Spartacus  in  Italy — there  arose  an  orator  out  of  the  labor- 
ing class,  who  in  Judea  in  an  open  air  meeting,  probably 
before  a  great  assemblage,  told  the  world  that  resistance 
to  evil  by  means  of  bloody  uprisings,  was  fraught  with 
failure.  Undoubtedly  having  in  mind  those  terrible 
scenes  we  have  pictured  in  these  chapters,  this  foremost 
of  orators  and  teachers  proclaimed  at  the  mass  meeting 
these  words: 

"  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said  (by  them  of  old 
time),  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth ;  but  I  say 
unto  you  that  ye  resist  not  evil  but  whosoever  shall  smite 
thee  on  thy  right  cheek,  turn  him  the  other  also."1 
Strange  words!  Inapplicable  to  this  seething  world. 
They  were  intended  for  some  microcosm;  some  perfected 
state — the  realized  heaven  on  earth.  In  the  competitive 
world  to-day,  Christian  as  it  pretends  to  be,  the  old  fight- 
ing eye  for  eye  and  tooth  for  tooth  prevails,  ever  will  pre- 

i  Matthew,  V.  38-39. 


494  PALESTINE. 

vail;  to  talk  otherwise  is  absurd  except  in  the  deep  pene- 
tralia where  that  heaven  is  realized. 

By  taking  these  strange  words  in  the  light  of  true  so- 
cial science  and  reasoning  upon  their  meaning  from  the 
point  of  view  in  which  these  pages  are  written,  we  may 
perhaps  understand  their  import.  Otherwise  the  task 
is  difficult.  Nations  continue  to  demand  an  eye  for  an 
eye.  Communities  do  the  same.  Even  families,  despite 
their  consanguine  ties,  cannot  but  continue  to  enslave 
and  often  destroy  each  other.  Individuals  stand  over- 
against  each  other  in  mocking  and  bitter  competition, 
the  shrewdest  or  most  favored  survive  while  the  majori- 
ties languish  and  fail. 

Jesus  when  he  said  these  words  was  in  the  act  of  creat- 
ing an  association;  and  that  association  actually  contin- 
ued for  300  years  practicing  the  precepts  of  its  founder. 
It  was  no  new  thing.  It  had  existed  for  centuries  before ; 
it  existed  then.  What  he  did  was  to  bring  out  into  the 
open  world  that  which  had  &o  long  been  secret. 

It  was  at  a  moment  when  such  doctrines  were  compre- 
hensible to  the  masses.  Notions  of  the  Messiah  existed 
everywhere  and  the  deep  religious  tinge  was  indispen- 
sable. The  irascible  world  had  many  a  tilt  with  the  ter- 
rible monster  of  competition  whose  religion  had  been 
deeply  based  upon  human  slavery  and  the  grasp  for  acqui- 
sition was  still  so  strong  that  although  the  principle  of 
equality  and  hence  of  emancipation  of  labor  from  its  de- 
gradation, has  never  even  to  this  day  been  relinquished, 
it  did  not  obtain  for  many  ages.  Through  this  great 
movement  a  ponderous,  revolutionary  blow  certainly  fell 
upon  the  old  competitive  system.  But  that  blow  though 
ultimately  fatal,  did  not  kill  the  monster  on  the  spot.  He 
still  lingers  and  is  to-day  struggling  in  a  temporary  hope 
and  exultation  although  nearly  2,000  years  have  elapsed 
since  the  word  went  forth  against  him. 

It  cannot  be  considered  in  any  other  light  than  that 
the  revolutionary  events  treated  in  foregoing  chapters, 
followed  by  the  enormous  wave  of  reform  of  the  early 
Christians,  produced  a  tremendous  syncope  or  swoon; 
that  an  atrophy  supervened;  and  that  they  benumbed  the 
whole  social  organism  of  the  great  Indo-European  race. 
The  dark  ages  into  which  our  race  sank,  after  the  adop- 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT  FAINTING    SPELL.        495 

tion  of  Christianity  and  its  ratification  and  legalization 
by  Constantine  must  ever  be  considered  a  phenomenon 
under  any  other  reasoning  than  that  this  task  it  under- 
took was  too  prodigious  for  its  powers.  Mons  of  time 
were  necessary  to  accomplish  so  vast  a  revolution.  To 
overwhelm  the  great  aristocratic  Pagan  religion  with  its 
array  of  traditions;  to  engulf  and  annihilate  its  obstinate 
cult;  to  emancipate  the  two-thirds  majority  on  whose  ill- 
paid  labor  it  had  feasted,  glutted  itself  and  grown  mon- 
strous in  bulk  and  arrogance,  was  a  task  so  profound  that 
although  actually  undertaken,  it  caused  a  reaction,  rolling 
up  moral  and  intellectual  billows  so  high  that  the  ages 
and  the  nations  were  swept  into  a  terrible  jargon  of  dog- 
mas tyrannies  and  bloody,  inquisitorial  intolerance  which 
destroyed  the  virility  of  the  race  for  more  than  a  thousand 
years.  And  even  now,  after  so  many  centuries,  the  end 
of  the  convulsions  is  far  off,  though  hopefully  approach- 
ing. 

All  struggles  embracing  deep  principles  are  attended 
by  qualms,  swoons  and  upheavals.  The  numberless  com- 
batants who  fell  back  in  the  swooning  period  that  settled 
upon  the  human  race  after  the  Council  of  Nice  with  its 
mongrel  Christianity,  its  idolatry,  priestcraft  and  despot- 
ism, are  emerging  with  higher  hopes  and  broader  views; 
their  armor,  the  mechanics  of  their  own  invention,  redu- 
plicated by  their  own  labor,  wielded  by  their  own  hands 
and  brain  and  their  manhood  cleared  of  doubts  and  su- 
perstitions— those  deadly  misgivings  of  the  ancients.  No 
one  to-day  asks  more  than  Jesus  did;  for  equal  liberty, 
universal  freedom  and  common  ownership,  with  his  sub- 
lime love  and  inter-care  are  quite  enough.  Squadrons 
innumerable  thus  armed  and  outfitted  are,  in  our  bright, 
regenerate  century,  returning  to  the  conflict  against  the 
aged,  competitive  and  long  successful  enemy  of  equal  ad- 
vantages and  equal  care.  The  conflict  in  this  second  com- 
ing may  be  long,  hopefully  in  our  own  land  bloodless,  be- 
cause fought  with  arguments,  organization,  diplomacy  and 
law. 

We  have  sketched  several  of  the  most  renowned  govern- 
ments and  ideal  governments  of  the  ancients.  They  all, 
having  their  foundation  upon  competition  and  its  natural 
partiality,  turned  against  the  laboring  people  on  whom 


496  PALESTINE. 

they  fed.  They  failed  and  came  to  naught.  What  there 
was  in  them  of  good  could  not  obtain  because  they  insulted 
and  disrespected  labor  and  degraded  the  working  people 
on  whom  they  existed  from  day  to  day.  Nature  toler- 
ated some  of  them  for  a  fair  trial  but  they  have  disap- 
peared and  are  no  more.  Jesus  came  and  advocated  an- 
other form  based  upon  equality  and  brotherhood. 

But  before  further  considering  the  form  established 
by  the  lowly  workingman  let  us  look  honestly  and  squarely 
at  the  condition  in  which  he  found  things. 

All  Asia  Minor  was  the  scene  of  labor  organizations, 
Canaan  by  no  means  excepted.  The  Phoenicians  who 
boasted  an  antiquity  of  30,000  years,2  occupied  the  land 
of  Canaan  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  in  which  country 
Jesus  lived  and'passed  the  greater  part  of  his  life.  These 
Canaanites  appear  before  the  researches  of  modern  archae- 
ologists and  historians  to  have  been  among  the  first  who 
possessed  labor  organizations.  In  giving  a  sketch  of 
several  ancient  forms  of  government,  we  have  simply  de- 
scribed the  competitive  system,  ancient  and  modern. 
Even  the  plans  of  Lycurgus  and  Numa  failed  altogther  of 
affecting  the  revolution  by  which  we  mean  the  complete 
change  from  the  old  Pagan  central  idea  of  slavery  to  one 
of  social  and  economic  equality.  There  was  no  socialism 
beyond  that  of  the  family,  in  the  government  instituted 
in  the  idea  of  common  ownership,  communal  intercourse, 
common  tables  and  impartial  distribution  of  land,  as  ar- 
ranged by  Lycurgus  and  afterwards  shadowed  by  Plato 
and  Aristotle.  Every  idea  of  true  socialism  was  utterly 
neutralized  by  their  hostility  to  laborers.  The  gymnas- 
tics which  took  the  place  of  physical  energy  supplied  by 
well  regulated  labor,  and  no  better  for  the  bodily  health 
and  development,  was  less  natural,  more  straining  and 
far  less  satisfactory. 

In  point  of  true  national  economy,  government  and  la- 
bor cannot  remain  separate.  By  the  governments  men- 
tioned, labor  was  disgraced,  the  laborer  denied  instruction, 
enslaved.  Who  then,  were  the  citizens  ?  Who  the  peo- 
ple ?  An  oligarchy  consisting  of  one- third  of  the  popu- 
lation. An  imperious,  oligarchy  of  landlords.  The  con- 
dition of  Ireland  or  England,  wherever  worst  overrun  and 

*  Africanu?,  In  SynctUus,  p.  31. 


HIGH  MORALS    OF   THE    WORKERS.          497 

monopolized  by  landlords  to-day,  is  better.  Again,  so  far 
as  the  family  socialism  is  concerned  it  was  still  more  per- 
nicious; for  it  was  hypocritically  an  acquiescence  in  the 
ancient  aristocracy  existing  among  the  highest  class, 
everywhere  in  the  right  of  the  first-born  son.  Lycurgus 
recognized  this  arch  aristocracy  in  forbidding  kings  and 
a  few  select  individuals  from  indulging  in  the  voluptuous 
interchange  of  loves.  As  in  the  traditional  Pagan  family, 
the  king  like  the  paterfamilias,  was  the  breeder  of  kings. 
The  mass  of  the  people  were  left  without  sacred  or  holy 
honors.  By  people  we  mean  the  citizens  and  favored  own- 
ers, or  rather  the  protected,  recognized  and  favored  of 
the  state.  What  then,  shall  be  said  of  the  workers? 
Summing  it  all  up,  these  governments  were  exactly  what 
they  turned  out  to  be— the  quintessence  of  competitive 
forms,  breeding  disunion  and  corruption,  thus  coaxing  on 
their  own  dissolution. 

But  seeds  of  the  true  revolution  were,  from  the  earliest 
antiquity  inherent  in  the  labor  organizations,  which  dur- 
ing these  abortive  efforts  of  aristocratic  lawgivers  and 
teachers,  quietly  existed  in  the  midst  of  them.  Had  there 
existed  only  a  few  of  these  societies  there  would  be  no  need 
here  of  pressing  our  subject.  It  would  be  allowed  to  slum- 
ber forever  unmentioned.  But  they  were  innumerable. 
Comparative  palaeography  indeed  finds  a  new  theme 
amongst  them  for  the  dignity  of  the  labor  problem ;  for  it 
casts  a  fresh  and  charming  color  into  the  hitherto  dry  read- 
ing of  annals. 

But  the  fact  that  they  were  so  numerous  as  to  exist  in 
thousands  and  perhaps  millions  and  that  their  quiet  exis- 
tence covered  unknown  ages  of  time,  is  far  less  significant 
than  the  fact  that  they  all  seem  to  have  possessed  the  ker- 
nel, not  of  the  dishonest  and  hypocritical,  but  of  the  hon- 
est and  real  socialism,  such  as  Jesus  and  the  early  Chris- 
tians struggled  to  plant  as  the  ultimate  plan  for  all  men 
to  follow.  They  were  all  certainly  alike  in  helping  each 
other,  in  respecting  and  honoring  labor  and  laborers,  in 
co-operating  for  mutual  aid,  in  a  perfectly  democratic 
form  of  religion  though  they  were,  in  their  credulous  sim- 
plicity, constantly  borrowing  from  the  great  grandees, 
u.eir  tutelary  deities  or  patron  saints.  Whatever  or 
wherever  their  tutelary  god,  one  thing  is  universally  ob- 


498 


served  —  an  uncompromising  belief  in,  and  a  practical  de- 
votion to,  the  rougher  forms  of  brotherhood.  They  had 
lived  the  revolution  for  unnumbered  generations  before 
Jesus  came  to  sweep  it,  by  one  magnetic  and  amazingly 
omnipotent  stroke,  out  of  its  modest  secrecy  into  the  open 
blaze  of  maddened,  gnashing  public  opinion  and  fling  it 
upon  the  warring  tempests  of  the  aged  competitive  sys- 
tem, the  foundation  rock  of  paganism. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  Jesus  should  appear  to  the 
world  in  Phoenicia  or  Canaan  which  was  at  that  time  the 
wreck  of  the  greatest  nation  of  freebooters,  buccaneers 
and  kidnappers  the  world  has  ever  known.  From  the 
earliest  record  these  people  were  marauders  and  their 
world-wide  successes  legalized  their  daring  and  made 
them  powerful  pirates  by  sea  and  brigands  by  land. 

But  there  was  an  inner  history  of  these  people  which 
the  pen  of  chroniclers  has  left  unsketched.  Great  num- 
bers of  persons  from  all  parts  of  the  known  world  were 
kidnapped  by  their  cruising  corsairs,  brought  to  the 
Phoenician  shores  and  sold  to  the  wealthy  for  slaves. 
These  slaves,  shortly  before  the  advent  of  Christ,  formed 
over  two-thirds  of  the  population.  They  were  maltreated, 
made  to  do  menial  work,  forced  to  till  the  lands,  especi- 
ally detailed  to  perform  all  the  severe  bodily  toil  in  and 
out  of  the  cities,  their  handsomest  youths  were  made  eu- 
nochs  and  apportioned  to  the  service  of  the  ladies  of  high 
estate,  and  their  young  girls,  disallowed  an  education  and 
brought  up  in  slavery  and  dirt,  yielded  not  only  to  labor 
but  became  susceptible  to  the  offers  of  the  unprincipled 
and  voluptuous  among  the  rich.  The  condition  of  the 
ancient  Phoenician  slaves  was  indeed  a  degraded  one.  In 
nearly  all  the  towns  of  Canaan  or  Phoenicia,  Syria  and 
Asia  Minor,  as  well  as  in  the  islands,  slaves  were  the  rule; 
the  free  working  people  *  the  exception.  The  cruel  taint 
which  blasted  the  toiler  extended  its  devil-fingers  beyond 
Greece  over  the  JEgean  sea  and  pointed  at  the  Asiatic 
workman  as  a  mark  for  its  curse.4 

In  Egypt,5  Greece,*  Rome,  Judea,7   Syria,8  Syracuse 

*  Drumann,  Arbeiter  und  Communisten,  p.  24.    ''In  Epidamnos  gab  es  kerne 
Handwerker  als  die  offentlicben  Sclaven.   Das  Handwerk  is  daber  verrufen  und 
verachtet  u,  in  nianchen  Stadten  den  Burgern  verboten." 

4  Plato,  Econ.,  4  and  6. 

*  Josephus,  Antiquities  oftlic  Jews,  book  II.  Chap.  v.  3. 


HOW  CICERO  HATED    THEM.  499 

and  Spain  the  ignominious  punishment  of  the  cross  was 
inflicted  only  on  felons  and  working  people,  often  for  the 
most  trivial,  or  merely  imagined,  or  trumped  up  offences, 
while  the  arch  criminals  of  "  family  "  were  allowed  the 
noble  supplicium.  This  state  of  things  had  come  to  such 
a  pass  since  the  conquest  of  the  countries  above  mentioned 
that  the  utmost  misery  prevailed  everywhere.  The  land 
was  grasped  by  speculating  Romans  of  court  favor,  who 
were  at  that  time  not  only  numerous  but  extremely  enter- 
prising. Being  of  the  privileged  or  citizen  stock  they 
siezed  the  beautiful  farms  formerly  worked  by  the  indus- 
trious inhabitants,  but  now  under  the  yoke  of  voracious 
conquerors,  and  assumed  them  to  be  their  own.  Instead 
of  free  labor,  slaves  performed  the  work. 

But  labor  had  been  in  sackcloth  and  ashes9  for  many 
ages,  and  it  required  no  additional  weight  to  make  it  bad 
enough.10  Even  Gellius  who  wrote  laws  to  decide  their  fate, 
seems  to  speak  with  contempt  of  labor  as  though  it  were 
some  noxious  reptile  to  be  hurled  from  his  pen  in  dis- 
gust.11 It  is  almost  amusing  to  read  over  the  queer 
whimsicalities  of  our  ancestors  whose  opera  quae  supersuni 
often  project  expressions  of  petulency  and  of  irritibility 
in  view  of  some  necessary  but  to  them,  ignominious  men- 
tion of  a  class  of  people  on  whose  toil  they  depended  for 
their  very  existence  from  day  to  day.  Cicero,  sneeringly 
said,  when  describing  his  enemy  Clodius,  ranking  him 
with  those  laboring  men,  tbat  he  was  "  without  credit, 
without  hope,  without  home,  without  goods."  "  This  in 

«  Guhl  and  Koner,  Life  of  the  Greeks  And  Romans,  p.  518.    -'In  crucemfigere.' 
i  Cf.  Inscription,  recently  found  at  Naples  containing  the  death  warrant  o1 
Jesus. 

»  Biicher,  Aufstande  der  Unfreien  Arbeiter,  S.  69,  and  elsewhere. 

9  Vide  Sallust,  Jugurtha,  73.    Also  Dionysins,  B.  C.  476  made  it  lowly  enough; 
Livy,  X.  31.    "Qninam  sit  ille,  qnem  non  pigeat  longinquitatis  bellorum  scrib- 
cndo  legendoque,  quae  gerentes  non  t'atigaverunt.'' 

10  Pliny,  Natural  History,  IX.  25;  II.  28. 

11  Quod^genus  Grsecii  axi><x£opovsvocp7it,  latinebajulosappellainus."    GeUiut 
6,  3,  §.  2. 

12  Pro  Marco  Coelio,  32.     "  Quare  oro   obtestorve  vos,  jndices,  ut  qua  in  civi- 
tate  paucis  his  diebns  Sextus  Clodius  absolutus  sit,  quern  vos  per  bienniumaut 
ministrum  geditiouis,  aut  ducem  vidistis:  qui  aedes  sacras,  qui  censum  populi 
Itomani,  qui  memoriam  pnblicam  suis  manibug  incendit,  hominem  sine  re,  sine 
flde,  sine  spe,  sine  sede,  sine  f ortunis,  ore,  lingua,  manu,  vita  omni  inquinatum: 
qui  Catuli  monumentum  afflixit,  meam  domnm  diruit,  mei  fratris  incendit."  Ci- 
cero here  had  not  the  magnanimity  to  give  Clodius  credit  for  voluntarily  cast- 


500  PALESTINE. 

his  haughty  mind  was  sufficient  to  damn  them  to  oblivion. 
Occasionally  there  rose  a  character,  so  sympathetic  and 
exalted,  even  in  immoral  Rome,  as  to  be  able  to  dispel 
this  almost  universal  contempt  and  to  give  expression  to 
the  grandest  and  most  truthful  sentiments.  Of  such  was 
the  excellent  Tiberius  Gracchus,  who  a  hundred  and  forty 
years  before  Christ  was  born,  declared  that  "  wild  game 
have  holes;  and  for  eveything  there  is  some  shelter,  some 
retreat ;  but  the  poor  who  struggle  and  die  for  Italy, 
though  they  have  air  and  light,  have  nothing  more. 
Houseless  and  homeless  they  wander  with  their  wives  and 
little  ones.  Those  military  gentlemen  lie,  who  admonish  sol- 
diers against  permitting  workingmen's  graves  and  sacred 
things  to  be  desecrated  by  enemies ;  for  not  one  has  a 
family  alter  of  his  own ;  not  one  among  all  these  Romans 
a  burial  place.  The  poor  must  struggle  and  die  for  the 
blustering  drunkenness  and  the  corrupted  wealthy  called 
nobility  whom  their  labors  create  and  sustain."  1S  We 
have  hitherto  made  reference  to  Mommsen  who  constantly 
bewails  the  paucity  of  mention  by  great  authors,  of  the 
poor  and  lowly ;  "  but  Mommsen  is  not  the  only  savant 
who  in  rummaging  among  the  musty  relics,  after  such  rare 
gems  in  vain,  sends  up  his  moan  of  regret.  Dr.  Drumanii 
repeats  the  same  thing  and  in  blunter  and  terser  terms. 
"One  searches  in  vain  for  satisfactory  intelligence,"  re- 
garding the  producing  class.16 

Such  are  the  difficulties  the  historian  of  the  ancient 
lowly  has  to  encounter ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  tell-tale 
inscriptions  and  the  musty  old  rescripts  of  law,  the  task 
could  never  be  performed.  But  while  the  most  valuable 
records  of  bold  writers  have  been  left  us  in  fragments  and 
the  more  time-serving  historians  have  shrugged  themselves 
into  silence  fearing  to  face  the  storms  of  public  opinion, 
the  workers  themselves  were  carving  their  own  history  in 
lines  of  amazing  legibility  for  the  far  future  students  of 
ethnology  and  social  science. 

E  raise;  for  he  was  descended  from  the  same  gens  withAppius  Claudius;  but  if 
e  turned  into  a  friend  of  the  unions,  restored  them,  fought  Cicero  on  these 
grounds,  and  if  he  comes  down  to  us  as  their  champion  and  martyr,  then  the 
•whole  labor  movement  must  acknowledge  it. 
it  Plutarch,  Tiberus  Qracdvus. 

14  De  Collegiis  et  Sodaliciis  Romanorum,  p.  41.  "Quoniam  exiguam  tantum 
notitiam  earum  ad  nos  pervenisse  admodum  dolendum  eat." 

is  Arbeiter  itnd  Communistenin  GfrtechenlnndundRom,  S.  15, 5,  ''  Befriedigende 
Nachrichten  sucht  man  vergebens." 


THE  SECRET  CULT  IN    CANAAN.  501 

We  now  turn  to  the  labors  of  Jesus  whom,  in  order  to 
"be  consistent  with  our  study  of  sociology,  we  must  pre- 
sume to  have  been  what  some  of  the  great  commentators 
and  even  some  of  the  encyclopaedists  now  consider  him,  an 
Essene  or  at  any  rate,  a  member  of  one  of  the  great  orders 
of  secret  associations  so  numerous  in  his  day.  Lest  this 
announcement  appear  untenable  in  the  minds  of  many, 
we  present  our  proof  in  consistent  detail ;  inviting  further 
investigation  on  the  part  of  critics,  in  rebuttal.  Certainly, 
no  harm  can  accrue  from  an  honest  comparison  of  facts 
as  applied  to  lessons  in  anthropology.  In  proceeding  to 
do  this  difficult  task  we  must  acquaint  our  readers  with 
things  as  we  find  them  and  reason,  like  the  physicist,  from 
the  premises. 

We  have  already  stated  that  there  existed  along  the 
Mediterranean  great  numbers  of  palseographs  mostly  un- 
earthed within  the  present  century.  There  is  still  a  dis- 
pute as  to  what  they  represented.  That  they  are  stone 
slabs,  often  handsomely  graved  in  relievo,  commemorating 
social  societies,  all  archaeologists  are  agreed.  But  until 
lately  it  has  not  occurred  to  their  learned  expounders  that 
they  were  genuine  labor  societies.  This  however,  is  the 
fact. 

But  while  these  innumerable  palseographs  are  really  the 
work  of  labor  organizations  and  economic  advantages  to 
manual  toil  being  then,  as  now,  the  incentive,  because  labor 
then,  as  now,  was  the  members'  only  capital  or  means  of 
support,  yet  this  labor,  on  account  of  the  taint  and  disgrace 
as  well  as  the  ruffianly  attacks  it  had  in  those  days  to  sub- 
mit to,  was  for  many  ages  the  cause  of  the  societies  and 
their  inscriptions;  and  the  thing  that  lies  constantly  con- 
cealed. But  the  more  popular  and  trivial  issues,  like  the 
paliatory  flattery  of  idol  worship,  the  vain-boasting  of 
prophets,  the  popular  flute  music,  dances,  processions,  and 
burial  ceremonies,  covered  up  the  view  of  labor;  a  palliative 
which  secured  their  permission  by  law,  to  exist  in  Palestine 
and  elsewhere. 

The  common  name  of  all  the  ancient  societies  of  these 
regions,  is  koinon,  and  the  most  important  of  them,  accord- 
ing to  Ltiders,16  are  the  synodal  or  synods.  Then  especially 
among  the  Canaanites  are  found  the  traders,  also  known  as 

»«  LUders,  Die  Dionyfitchen  KiauUer,  p.  12. 


502  PALESTINE. 

synodoi  plethoi  and  symbiosis  philia.  But  of  course  in  the 
•widest  sense  the  general  name  of  phratry  stood  uppermost; 
since  whatever  applied  to  it  means  "  union." 

But  the  name  under  which  the  most  of  them  are  known 
in  the  inscriptions  is  eranos  and  thiasos,  a  description  of 
which  we  have  already  given.  The  eranos,  in  the  Greek 
was  a  labor  or  trade  union.  From  the  Greek,  all  the  social 
societies  of  the  JEgean  sea,  Syria,  Phoenicia  and  Asia  Minor 
borrowed  this  name.  The  same  explanation  applies  to  the 
thiasos.  This  was  an  association  for  common  enjoyment, 
and  is  consequently  considered  by  the  modern  archaeolog- 
ists as  a  branch  of  the  dionysia  or  the  bacchantes.  But 
there  is  great  misapprehension  regarding  the  province  and 
functions  of  the  celebrated  god  Bacchus.  While  people  of 
our  day  associate  him  with  wine  and  drunkenness  the  great 
Numa  Pompilius  provided  for  the  working  people  once  a 
year  at  the  Saturnalian  festivals  of  the  harvests,"  and  dur- 
ing his  wise  and  much  honored  reign  they  were  encouraged 
to  indulge  in  festal  recreations.  The  Saturnalia  was  a  great 
harvest  festival.  Relaxation,  merry-making  and  even  wine 
conviviality  were  so  far  indulged  in  as  to  almost  sink,  pend- 
ing its  duration,  the  inequalities  of  rich  and  poor.  Being- 
in  December,  it  was  to  the  ancient  Romans,  what  Christmas 
is  to  the  Christians. 

Now,  considered  as  identified  with  the  manners  of  the 
labor  organizations,  there  is  a  similarity  touching  the  satur- 
nalia sanctioned  by  Numa.  Tullus  Hostilius  and  even  the 
emperors,  and  the  bacchanalia  which  were  breathing  mo- 
ments of  the  secret  labor  societies.  But  the  bacchanalia 
were  common  in  all  countries  and  the  bacchantes  had  their 
feast  at  any  time  during  the  year.  The  true  cause  of  their 
disreputable  taint  is  not  that  the  feasters  drank  wine.  All 
drank  wine,  when  they  were  able  to  pay  for  it ;  it  was  a 
healthy  beverage.  The  obloquy  comes  entirely  from  their 
being  all  lowly  working  people.  They  were  attacked  in  a 
ferocious  and  brutal  manner  and  threatened  with  extinction 
because  they  dared  to  have  an  evening  dance  once  a  month. 

Unorganized,  the  ancient  workingrnen  were  powerless  to 
enjoy  even  this ;  but  the  force  of  co-operation  or  confrater- 
nity bore  its  fruits  j  and  by  it  they  could  enjoy  their  con- 
vivial s. 

H  Hntarcb,  Lycurgiti  and  Xuma  Compared. 


OPINION    OF    MODERN  SAVANTS.  503 

The  thiasos18  was  this  community  gathering,  which  in 
tbeir  marches  and  dances  used  to  wear  beautiful  wreaths  l9 
and  sport  red  flags  and  banners.  Tracing  these  societies 
farther  and  clearing  them  of  moral  mud  and  slime  with 
which  vilifiers  of  the  ancient  quill  have  so  bespattered  them 
that  the  word  bacchanal  appears  in  our  vocabularies  like  a 
synonym  of  sottishness,  we  have  a  decent,  well  ordered  as- 
sociation or  union  of  poor  people  who  work  for  their  living ; 
such  as  existed  all  over  the  country  about  where  Jesus  lived. 
Bockh,  cites  an  inscription  of  one  found  at  Tyre  about  20 
miles  from  Nazareth  and  after  deciphering  its  epigraph,  ar- 
rives at  the  conclusion  that  although  it  was  a  thiasos.  it 
was  not  a  wine  bibbing  institution  at  all.'30 

From  Phrygia  among  the  celebrated  Phrygian  slaves 
there  conies  a  stone  slab  which  Lu'ders,  in  his  excellent 
work,  "  The  skilled  mechanic  of  the  bacchanal,"  has  lucidly 
described.  We  translate  one  of  his  descriptions.20 

"Above  the  lettering  appears  a  general  picture  of  the 
scene.  On  the  right  sits  a  goddess  in  a  long  chiton  (flow- 
ing robe),  holding  a  large  shell  in  the  right  hand.  In  the 
left  she  holds  a  tympanum,  the  bottom  resting  upon  her 
kuee  which,  together  with  a  modius  upon  her  head,  repre- 
sents her  as  the  goddess  Cybele.  Near  here  sits  the  lion 
which  is  known  to  be  the  favorite  animal  of  the  Phrygian 
goddess.  Besides  the  goddess,  also  robed  in  a  long  flowing 
chito?i)  stands  a  man  holding  a  cithara  on  the  left  arm. 
Over  the  altar  erected  on  his  right  he  holds  also  a  shell.  A 
tree  shades  the  altar.  A  girl  leads  in  a  lamb  for  the  sacri- 
fice upon  the  altar,  and  another  is  playing  the  flnte.  An 
aged  female  figure  is  finally  represented  at  the  extremity  of 
the  room  in  the  attitude  of  worship.  Beneath  this  holy  per- 
sonifiation  is  represented  another  scene,  presenting  a  sym- 
posium of  10  persons.  With  the  left  arm  on  the  lap,  they 
sit  on  their  pillows  eating  and  drinking,  and  in  front  of  them 

18  "  8i'a<rov,  (xrirep  tirnv  ij  airo  TOW  Trtvfiv  (rvvayiayq."     Phot.  82. 

19  «  polybius  erzShlt  (XX.  6),  class  diese  Kranzchen  in  Bootien  in  grosser 
Bliithe  gewesen  seien."    (Liiders,  Die  Dionysischen  K&nstlcr,  S.  11).     Cf.  Droysen, 
HeUenismus.  11,  83.  f. 

2'  Bockh,  Corput  Inscriptionum  Gracarum.  No.  2271.  "  Thiasos  non  bacchi- 
CUS  est  " 

21  Luders,  Die  IHonytischen  Kftrutler,  8.  9,  Tafel  II. 

**  The  word  "zechen  "  here  used  for  drinking  by  the  learned  philologist, 

,  might  have  been  well  enough  for  the  date  at  which  it  was  written :  but  it  is  entirely 

unjust  now;  for  it  perpetuates  the  insults  upon  the  poor.    This  word  is.  evi- 

ently  meant  to  convey  to  us  the  idea  that  they   were  eating  and  "  tippling," 


504  PALESTINE. 

on  one  side,  flute  players  while  the  time  with  music,  and  on 
the  other  side  waiters  are  busy  bringing  the  viands  of  the 
table  and  wine  for  the  members.  Two  batons  stand  leaning 
against  the  wall  on  the  right,  on  whose  pointed  ends,  as  we 
may  safely  surmise,  the  bread  is  toasted  and  the  meat  broiled. 
The  inscription  reads  that  the  thiasotes,  male  and  female, 
are  in  the  act  of  honoring  Stratonica  their  priestess  with 
wreaths  ;  and  this  for  honest  service  she  has  rendered  their 
saints  or  deities,  Apollo  and  Cybele. 

Such  were  the  eranists  and  thiasotes.  To  our  mind,  rea- 
soning from  the  now  provable  fact  that  these  societies  were 
numerous  in  the  land  of  Canaan  in  the  days  of  Christ,  it  is 
quite  certain  that  he  was  a  member  of  an  eranos,  or  of  some 
other  secret  association  like  an  Eleusinian  brotherhood ;  as 
by  his  time,  these  had  assumed  a  cult 23  which  was  both 
practical  and  religious.  His  religion  was  monotheistic  but 
he  could  not  have  been  more  devout. 

But  we  have  promised  to  thread  the  eranoi  farther,  that 
there  may  remain  no  doubt  regarding  their  influence  or 
their  age  and  numbers.  Having  stripped  the  bacchic  thiasos 
of  its  traditional  terrors,  we  come  to  inquire,  with  Liiders, 

whereas  the  solemnity  af  the  particular  occasion  forbids  any  such  rendering  so 
the  inscription.  The  real  cause  of  the  fling  is  the  innocent  lexicographer ;  not 
the  faithful  epigraphist.  "  Thiasotai  "  is  made  to  mean  revellers  or  tipplers.  If 
means  no  such  thing.  The  lexicographers  are  obliged  to  give  definitions  such  at 
the  sense  implied  in  the  historian's  account,  suggests.  Where  the  fault,  if  any, 
resides,  is  at  the  door  of  the  historian  who  throughout  the  literature  of  antiquity 
has  signalized  himself  as  the  toadying  accomplice  of  the  aristocracy. 

While  therefore,  we  profoundly  respect  the  careful  philologist  who,  years 
ago  gave  us  these  treasured  scraps,  yet,  from  a  standpoint  of  sociology,  future 
archaeologists  must  come  to  judge  of  the  meaning  of  words  from  their  self-evi- 
dent premises.  Indeed,  the  direct  discovery  of  Bockh,  whose  authority  stands 
pre-eminent,  is  that  "  thiasos  is  not  bacchic,"  "  Thiasos  non  bacchicus  est."  He 
makes  this  plain  declaration,  evidently  not  from  the  common  definition  at  all; 
but  because,  on  studying  his  inscription,  he  sees  by  its  general  appearance  that 
though  confessedly  a  thiasos  it  is  far  too  serious  to  be  a  band  of  tipplers. 

23  Eusebius  says  boldly,  quoting  Philo  (see  chap,  xviii.),  that  these  Essenes 
or  Therapeutse  were  very  numerous  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Ecclts.  lib.  II. 
cap.  17.  Much  more  may  be  learned  from  Philo  Judseus,  De  Vila  Conlemplativa 
and  Quod  Omnis  Prnbus  Liber;  12;  Lightfoot,  The  Epistle  of  St.  Paul;  Collossiam 
and  Philemon.  This  last  author's  stricture  against  the  essenes  being  the  order  to 
which  the  early  Christians  belonged,  brings  even  more  proof  of  our  theory  that 
Essene,  Estenoi,  is  only  a  phase  of  eranoi,  suitably  change:!  to  fit  the  Judean  dia- 
lects, of  the  Greek,  and  that  also  it  took  on  phases  to  conform  with  the  .Mosaic 
code  in  Palestine  and  Egypt.  A  careful  reading  of  Dr.  Lightfoot's  Essenes,  idem, 
p.  347,  sqq.  may  serve  to  convince  many  of  this  anology.  "While  the  Pharasees 
were  the  sect,  tue  Essanes  were  the  order,"  (p.  354>.  We  say  however,  that  while 
tne  thiasoi  were  the  sect  the  eranoi  were  the  order.  Lightfoot  (same  pages), 
speaks  of  their  tenets  being  "of  foreign  origin.''  This  is  still  further  proof. 
The  grammatical  structure,  and  how  changed,  is  clearly  seen  ou  page  355, 
Eoiraios,  Eo-trr/cd?  resemble  fltWos,  Oiacrrivos.  Again,  they  were  baptists.  Thi# 
they  got  from  the  venerable  custom  among  the  unions,  of  the  constant  use  of  the 
baths. 


AN  ANCIENT  SLANDER    EXPLODED.          505 

more  about  the  Dionysischen  Kuenstler,  or  Bacchic  skilled 
workmen.  The  Dionysia  at  Athens  were  of  four  sorts,  but 
not  necessarily  connected  with  these  social  communes.  In 
that  country,  in  early  times,  the  Dionysia  were  feasts,  or 
autumnal  jubilees  at  the  vintage.  They  were  amusements 
at  which  the  boys  and  girls  hopped  and  caroused.  Some- 
times they  danced  upon  sacks  or  ollas  filled  with  water,  or 
climbed  the  greased  pole,  or  jumped  and  climbed  on  bowl- 
ders smeared  with  oil  which  by  their  slipping  and  awkward- 
ness caused  great  merriment.  Undoubtedly  the  farmers  at  a 
bee  of  this  kind  sometimes  drank  wine  to  excess.  The 
second  Dionysia  were  feasts  of  the  wine  presses.  It  was 
almost  exactly  equivalent  to  our  Thanksgiving ;  fully  as  re- 
ligious but  less  sedate  and  reverential.  It  was  a  series  of 
banquets  and  festivities  at  which  the  meats  and  dainties  were 
paid  for  from  the  public  purse.  Then  there  were  drinking 
festivities  called  anthesteria  at  which  in  the  spring  of  the  year 
the  citizens  gathered  and  indulged  in  enjoyments.  But  we 
are  not  quite  certain  whether  the  working  part  of  the  popula- 
tion were  allowed  to  attend;  since  citizens  in  Athens,  as 
elsewhere,  in  the  Hellenic  peninsula  and,  in  fact,  wherever 
Greek  was  spoken,  were  regarded  as  above  labor.  Lastly, 
the  great  Dionysia  held  mostly  within  the  city.  They 
consisted  principally  of  theatrical  entertainments  at  the  cost 
of  the  state.  These  again  were  aristocratical  and  had  little 
to  do  with  workingmen's  organizations. 

The  anthesteria  in  the  month  of  February  and  the  great 
Dionysia  held  in  Elaphebolion,  month  of  March,  strikingly 
resembled  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  to  the  description  of 
which  we  have  devoted  a  chapter.  They  had  secret  sacrifi- 
ces at  which  the  wife  of  the  archon  was  symbolically  mar- 
ried to  Bacchus,  the  celebrated  god  of  plenty.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  the  poor  working  people  and  the  slaves,  in 
their  longings  to  rise  to  enjoyment  and  esteem,  aped  these 
great  aristocratic  orgies  of  the  citizens,  which  sometimes 
were  performed — especially  at  Eleusis — with  a  display  of 
magnificence  only  equalled  by  their  mysterious  secrecy  and 
their  religious  pomp.  Thus,  the  labor  unions  had  nothing 
in  common  with  those  orgies  and  must  not  be  mixed  up 
with  them. 

In  1364,  there  appeared  an  article  in  the  Revue  Archeo- 
logique,  on  the  eranoi  and  thiasoi  of  the  inscriptions.  The 


506  PALESTINE. 

theme  maintained  that  these  unions  tended  towards  a  cult,. 
and  that  the  result  of  their  humble  existence  for  a  period  of 
many  ages  was  an  upward  and  civilizing  tendency.  The 
writer,  M.  Wescher,  an  archaeologist  who  had  devoted  much 
time  to  deciphering  the  meaning  of  relics  so  curious,  took  the 
ground  similar  to  that  maintained  in  these  chapters,  although 
he  does  not  pre-suppose  that  the  unionists  had  anything  to 
do  with  labor.  This  is  the  strongest  of  all  the  phenomena 
which  beset  the  pen  of  scholars.  Granier  de  Cassagnae 
wrote  his  history  of  the  ancient  laboring  men  from  that 
point  of  view;  and  although  his  exceedingly  scientific  and 
rare  penetration  was  for  30  years  talked  down  by  the  sav- 
ants of  Germany  and  France,  they  are  now  maintained  by 
greater  ones  who  acknowledged  that  they  were  taught  by 
him.  Such  was  also  the  fate  of  M.  Wescher,  who  ventured 
to  suggest  that  the  eranoi,  very  nearly  identical  with  the 
Roman  collegia  or  trade  unions  of  which  Granier  had  made 
his  magnificent  expose,  were  something  more  than  mere  re- 
ligious sects ;  for  we  find  M.  P.  Foucart  denying  the  truth 
of  M.  Wescher's  remarks24  and  in  his  preface,  express- 
ing his  sensation  of  pleasure  at  imagining  himself  able  to 
disprove  Wescher's  hypothesis.44  One  would  suppose  that 
any  discovery  that  they  were  labor  societies  would  be  hailed 
with  pleasure  by  the  most  critical;  but  the  contrary  is  hurled 
in  his  old  friend's  face  with  scorn. 

We  feel  an  interest  lively  enough  in  the  little  polemic  of 
Foucart  and  Wescher  to  reproduce  an  example:  Wescher 
examines  the  fraternal  character  of  the  Associations3*  in 
these  words:  "  Now  is  it  not  natural  that,  at  an  epoch  of  in- 
quietude and  of  religious  agitation  like  that  of  the  great 
Alexandrian  school,  the  number  of  these  societies  should 
be  considerable?  Ought  we  to  be  astonished  that  many 
men  and  women  abandoned  the  official  religion  which  had 
long  proved  itself  ineffectual  to  free  culture,  arid  to  the  de- 
velopment of  spontaneous,  fraternal  goodness  such  as  re- 
sponds to  the  innermost  aspirations  of  the  heart  ?  The 
Greek  soil  must  be  considered  the  veritable  cradle  of  this 
religious  movement.  It  will  redound  to  the  inextinguish- 
able honor  of  Greece  for  having  planted  such  examples  iu 

•*  Associations  Religieuses  chez  Its  Greet,  pp.  139-153. 

x  Idem,  Preface,  p,  14.    "  Une  certaine  satisfaction  etune  certaine  confiance  .' 

M  Sevue  Arciieoloffiyue,  1865,  II.  pp.  220  and  227. 


OPINIONS    OF    SCHOLARS.  60S 

the  world,  before  the  appearance  of  Christianity."  M 
Wescher  continues:  "  The  common  fund  of  the  societies  was 
devoted  to  mutual  assistance  and  assurance,  destined  to  fur- 
nish advances  to  members  in  need,27  to  provide  for  them  in 
cases  of  sickness  and  defray  the  expenses  of  a  decent 
burial."28  Farther  along  he  says:  "The  members  were  a 
mutual  community,  one  with  another;  the  well-to-do  paid, 
the  indigent  received,  in  rotatory  form,  as  the  case  happened. 
Poverty  was  no  motive  of  exclusion."  This  last  declaration 
is  stoutly  met  by  M.  Foucart  who  says  it  is  based  solely 
upon  an  expression  of  Rangabe.  In  point  of  fact  this  com- 
munistic mutuality  is  the  only  definition  ever  attached  to 
either  the  Greek  words  eranos  or  Latin  collegium  !  He  fur- 
ther quotes  from  Tbeophrastus,2'  a  passage  in  rebuttal  which 
substantially  acknowledges  not  only,  that  the  eranoi  were 
mutual  sharers,  but  also  that  the  celebrated  successor  to 
Plato  knew  all  about  them.  Not  discomfited  with  this  in- 
consistency he  drags  up  the  case  of  one  Lacerates,  an  Athe- 
nian, who  being  about  to  move  to  Megara  sells  his  house 
and  his  slaves,  charging  one  of  his  friends  with  the  task  of 
paying  and  settling  up  with  his  creditors,  money  he  owes 
and  to  straighten  accounts  with  his  eranos.  It  does  not 
follow  from  this,  that  this  rich  man  was  even  a  member,  any 
more  than  was  Augustus  Caesar  a  member  of  the  many  col- 
legia at  Rome  which  he  patronized  under  the  well  known 
name  of  Collegia  Domus  Augustalis.™ 

The  whole  of  the  matter  is,  that  these  were  poor  working 
people's  societies  for  mutual  aid.  They  corresponded  very 
closely  indeed  to  our  trade  unions.  They  had  existed  from 
immemorial  times  as  trade  and  labor  societies  for  mutual 
support  and  were  almost  indentical  with  the  Roman 
colegia  on  which  we  have  devoted  a  chapter,  and  regard- 
inlg  which  evidences  in  inscriptions  and  otherwise,  are  over- 
whelming. Those  poor  people  did  not  work  all  day  at 
wearying  drudgery  and  then  labor  at  night  in  their  unions 
merely  for  religion's  sake  as  M.  Foucart  imagines."  They 

*>  Here  Wescher  himself  is  unable  to  understand  that  the  fund  was  for  mem- 
bers out  of  employment,  which  places  labor  at  the  bottom  of  their  organization. 

28  Revue  Archeologique,  idem,  p.  226. 

29  Theophrastus,  Ethikoi  Karakteres,  17, 

so  Mommsen,  £e  Collegiis  et  Sodaliclis  Romanorum,  Cap.  V.,  De  Collegiis  lati 
rub  Imperitoribus.  The  emperor  Augustus  was  of  course,  not  a  member  of  the 
trade  unions  but  he  befriended,  protected  and  patronized  some  of  their  labor 
•while  a  great  many  of  them  he  suppressed.. 


•508  PALESTINE. 

had  to  combine  as  the  men  are  now  combining,  to  take 
measures  regarding  the  best  advantage  at  which  they  might 
on  the  morrow,  exchange  the  only  goods  they  possessed — 
their  labor — for  their  daily  bread.  Even  slaves,  when  al- 
owed,  sometimes  joined,  to  better  their  condition. 

So  much  for  the  eranoi.  The  thiasoi  were,  as  we  have 
described  them,  simply  clubs  of  the  eranoi  who  arranged 
and  conducted  the  little  banquets  and  social  amenities  which 
throughout  antiquity  seem  to  have  made  life  worth  living. 
These  thiasoi  corresponded  to  the  sodalicia  of  the  Romans. 
We  have,  however,  in  our  description  of  the  Roman  trade 
unions,  shown  that  owing  to  the  severely  restrictive  and  cen- 
sorious laws,  the  unions,  toward  the  commencement  of  the 
Ohristian  era  were  compelled  to  assume  a  strongly  religious 
and  pious  aspect  in  order  to  prevent  being  suppressed  by 
these  rigors,  after  the  servile  wars.  Precisely  the  same  ia 
Greece,  Asia  Minor,  Palestine  and  the  Islands  of  the  .ZEgean 
Sea;  because  all  these  provinces  from  about  B.  C.  200  had 
become  Roman  territory  by  conquest.  Any  law  touching 
them  at  Rome  in  the  Latin  tongue  was  as  rigorous  against 
them  in  Greece,  Asia  Minor  or  Canaan  in  the  Greek  or  He- 
brew. These  are  the  points  which  the  learned  Foucart  seems 
to  have  forgotten.  He  is  an  expert  as  an  epigraphist  but 
lacks  the  aptitude  of  the  comparative  sociologist.  The 
keen  preception  of  Mommsen  detected  and  cleared  up  the 
mystery  in  his  laws  on  the  Roman  trade  unions." 

These  are  things  which  seem  strongly  to  support  our 
argument  that  a  spontaneous,  genuine  secret  movement  per- 
vaded the  Greek,  Latin  and  Hebrew-speaking  countries  far 
and  wide  at 'this  particular  epoch  of  the  advent  of  Christ. 
The  unity  and  brotherhood  shown  to  have  existed  among 
the  secret  societies  is  almost  touching.  The  more  the  upper 
stratum  of  society  was  distracted  by  the  consequences  of 
the  competitive  system  having  failed,  on  a  trial  of  thousands 
of  generations,  the  more  completely  did  the  brotherly  love 
system  of  the  labor  unions  grow  into  usefulness,  through 
accord  and  mutual  support. 

There  is  an  example  of  this  seen  at  the  Pirseus.  The 
Phrygians  were  considered  barbarians  by  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans. Their  patron  goddess  was  Cybele.  Lliders  reports 

81  Assoc,  Relig.  Chez.  Let.  Grecs.,  passim.     One  comparison  of  them  with 
a  of  the  Ramans  M.  Fouc  *  rt  finds  this  error  clearly  prorad. 
De  Colleyiit  et  Sodaliciit  Romanorum.     Passim. 


EQUALITY  AND   FRATERNITY.  500 

that  in  the  Pirseus  alone,  such  was  the  harmony  among  the 
orgeons  and  thiasoi,  who  represented,  apparently  without 
the  least  jealousy  or  dispute,  many  nationalities  there,  that 
the  Phrygians  had  an  especial  temple  standing  close  by  the 
great  temple  of  the  goddess  Metroon,  where  she  was  wor- 
shiped by  the  members  of  a  society  whose  members  called 
themselves  orgeones  and  thiasotes  on  the  inscription. 

It  reads  that  the  decrees  15  and  19  provide  that  strangers 
be  admitted  to  the  society.  One  of  the  officers  is  himself  a 
stranger.  In  the  list  of  officers,  one  is  a  tutelary  soter,  or 
savior  from  Trcezen,  and  one,  Cephalion,  from  Heraclia.  So 
also  women  officiated  in  responsible  functions  in  the  same 
society.33  At  the  Piraeus  was  the  thiasos  embracing  the  cult 
of  Serapis;  of  Zeus  Labraundos,  Metroon 'and  Cybele ;  of 
Heroistes,  Demos  Collyte,  Apollo,  Nymph  Lycia  and  others. 
Some  of  the  inscriptions  bear  date  ofB.  C.  324. M  The  fact 
of  their  having  lived  in  their  quiet  fraternal  way  so  many  ages 
organizing,  living  in  common,  teaching  as  they  went,  and 
constantly  inculcating  the  spirit  of  fraternity  as  it  were,  un- 
derground, while  overhead  in  the  great  competitive  world, 
kings,  nobles,  money-changers,  and  politicians  were  fighting 
and  dashing  each  other  against  the  competitory  rocks  of  the 
Pagan  aristocracy,  is  of  itself,  strong  evidence  that  they 
were  the  real  planters  of  a  future  state  which  could  not  ob- 
tain in  the  open  world  without  a  revolution. 

Our  maxim  that  the  greater  the  organization  of  the  la- 
boring poor  into  a  brotherhood  for  common  help  the  higher 
will  be  the  pitch  of  human  enlightenment,  certainly  holds 
goo<l  so  far  as  it  was  able  to  proceed  in  ancient  times.  Its 
corollary  ;  the  higher  the  enlightenment  the  more  complete 
the  extinction  of  social  and  economical  grades,  cannot  be 
demonstrated  until  the  associative  energy  expressed  in  the 
premises  has  been  carried  far  enough  against  the  competi- 
tive system  to  reach  a  majority.  "When  this  comes  to  pass 
the  conclusion  will  be  reached  that  the  intensity  of  human 
enlightenment  can  be  tested  and  measured  by  the  quantity 
of  social  organization  of  this  hitherto  degraded  stratum  of 
society. 

The  whole  story  looks  as  if  the  offering  of  ignominy,  of 
Bethlehem,  foresaw  these  three  great  truths  20  centuries 


as  Liiders,  Die  Dtimysichen  Kuustler.  pp.  14,  15. 
84  Idem,  p.  16. 


510  PALESTINE. 

ahead,  when  he  boldly  took  up  the  unionist's,  culture  of  a 
dozen  deities,  their  social  methods,  their  fraternal,  interact- 
ing love,  their  meek,  silent  humility  and  secret  work,  brought 
them  grandly  forth  from  their  obscurity,  proclaimed  with 
an  irresistible  eloquence  and  pathos  the  obsolute  equality 
of  man  and  succeeded  before  the  quarrelsome  competitive  sys- 
tem, its  toadies  and  obsequious  devotees,  could  bring  him, 
like  all  the  rest  to  the  gibbet,  in  unifying  all  their  gods  into 
one  god  and  forcing  the  vast  movement  upward  into  view 
and  linal  adoption  by  the  world.  The  failure  of  royalty  and 
empire  which  at  his  time  began  to  be  seen  in  the  states  of 
Greece,  Italy  and  western  Asia,  proved  his  words  that  "  a 
house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand ;  **  and  this  cele- 
brated apothegm  from  his  lips  is  now  being  used,  perhaps 
more  than  any  other  by  the  labor  organizations  of  the  19th 
century.  Mutual  fraternity  and  arbitration  of  difficulties 
•without  resort  to  violence  or  other  overt,  unchristian  acts 
is  proved  by  unions  of  trades  to  be  everywhere  productive 
of  the  most  satisfactory  results. , 

The  lines  between  the  followers  of  the  movement  and  its 
opponents  were  definitely  and  very  distinctly  drawn.  He 
that  is  not  for  us  is  against  us.*8  This  again  has  become  a 
common  maxim  among  the  trade  and  labor  societies  of  mod- 
ern times;  so  much  so,  that  the  investigation  of  the  charac- 
ter of  applicants  for  membership  is  found  necessary  before 
admission. 

The  law  of  Solon  had  provided  for  the  free  organization 
of  burial  societies  among  the  Athenian  poor.  He  called 
them  hotnotaphoi.  There  were  the  communists  who  en- 
joyed their  meals  at  a  common  table.  The  law  and  the 
language  knew  them  as  sussitoi.  These  also  were  numer- 
ous in  Palestine  and  elsewhere  along  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean.  But  it  is  certain  that  they  were  labor 
unions ;  for  Liiders,37  speaking  in  general  terms  says  that 
the  brotherhood  who  partook  with  each  other  at  the  com- 
mon table  did  this  as  a  moral  custom  and  that  the  custom 
was  common  throughout  the  ancient  world ;  and  in  the 
larger  societies  received  an  especial  character.  There 
were  even  societies  of  privateers,  of  Phoenician  or  Canaan- 

»  Luke,  XI.  17:  Mathew,  XII.  25 ;  Mark,  III.  25. 
»6  Mathew,  xii.  30;  Mark,  ix.  40. 

87  Dionysch,  KSnslUr,  S.  4,  5.    "  Ausser  diesen  kleineren,  ausschliesslich  prt 
Taten  Zwecken  dienonden  Genossenschalten  gab  es  Schiffer — uud  Hadelsvereine." 


HOW  PALESTINE  BORROWED    THE    CULT.     511 

Ite  origin  of  course ;  for  these  were  the  most  formidable  of 
ancient  brigands  and  freebooters.  But  Solon  also  per- 
mitted such  secret  organization  at  Athens.38 

Luders  expressly  states  that  there  existed  universally 
an  organization  called  by  the  Greeks  deipna  apo  symboles. 
It  was  an  eranos  or  labor  union ;  and  "  stretched  from 
high  antiquity  into  the  second  half  of  the  4th  century  of 
our  era,  when  at  the  Council  of  Laodicea  it  was  forbid- 
den."39 Our  statement  that  the  eranoi  and  thiasoivrere 
in  reality  one  and  the  same  thing,40  the  eranos  being  the 
labor  or  business  part  of  the  administration,  and  the  thia- 
sos  that  part  attending  to  the  entertainments,  is  fully  con- 
firmed by  Luders,41  who  expressly  says  their  identity  as 
well  as  functions  were  mixed ;  and  necessarily,  since  the 
eranos  not  only  paid  the  expenses  of  its  own  business  with 
the  members,  attending  to  the  procurement  of  situations 
for  members  out  of  employment  and  to  the  burial  and 
other  expenses,  but  also  helped  pay  the  costs  of  the  con- 
vivialities. 

Thus,  the  self-evident  fact  that  the  eranoi  and  the  thi- 
asoi  which  were  one  and  the  same  everywhere,  being 
made  apparent,  we  come  to  the  further  proof  of  their  ex- 
istence in  great  numbers  in  Asia  Minor,  Palestine  and 
Syria.  Luders  remarks  that  from  the  Hellenic  peninsula 
the  organizations  there  planted,  spread  into  the  islands 
and  Asia  Minor  where  their  relics  are  found  still  more 
numerous  than  in  Greece.42  Still  it  is  well  known  that  at 
the  Piraeus  or  seaport  of  Athens,  at  Eleusis  and  many 
other  places,  including  the  Laurian  silver  mines  in  Attica 
they  must  also  have  flourished  in  large  numbers ;  although 
their  tendency  to  cultivate  the  principle  of  universal 
brotherhood  was  frowned  upon  by  the  outside  world. 

We  must  introduce  here  the  quite  singular  but  perfectly 
natural  fact  that  wherever  the  unions  were  thoroughly 
established  and,  so  to  speak,  nested  together,  the  Christian 
church  was  sure  to  first  plant  itself.  Thus  Pergamus,  the 
seat  of  the  great  uprising  of  workingraen  under  Aristoni- 

»  Vide  Bockh,  StaatsJiaushalt,  I.  762.    Lobeck,  Aglaoph,  p.  305. 
*9  Lttders,  Dionysch.  KQnstler,  8.  T. 
40  Consult  p.  455,  chapter  xii. 

*>  Dionysch.  Kiinst.,  8.7.    "  Beide  Arten  von  eranos  scheinen  schon  in  sehr 
frQher  Zeit  mit  den  thiaaoten  Vereinen  vermischt  vrorden  zu  sein. 
«  ZH«  Dionysichen  KOnstor,  S.  13. 


512  PALESTINE. 

«us  in  B.  C.  133-129,*"  became  the  mellow  ground  wherein 
the  early  Christians  planted  and  on  which  they  reared 
one  of  their  most  celebrated  churches.  The  laboring 
people  were  in  trouble  at  the  time  of  this  uprising — one 
of  the  bloodiest  on  record.  They  possessed  organizations 
throughout  the  country  which  they  were  enjoying  in  ap- 
parent peace,  when  they  were  startled  by  that  paltroon 
act  of  Attains  IV.  deeding  at  his  death,  the  whole  king- 
dom to  the  Romans.  Fearing  lest  they  be  seized  by  the 
hated  Romans  and  reduced  to  slavery,  they  unanimously 
joined  the  pretender.  But  there  were  inscriptions 
showing  that  the  Pergamenian  working  people  were  en- 
joying a  thrifty  organization  dating  from  high  antiquity 
down  to  the  coming  of  the  Messiah. 

Cappadocia  which  did  not  fall  into  Roman  hands  until 
A.  D.  17,  was  also  one  of  the  early  posts  of  the  Christians. 
The  first  epistle  of  St.  Peter  bears  this  name.  Here  too 
the  labor  brotherhoods  had  a  strong  foothold.  This  is 
rendered  certain  by  the  recent  discovery  of  several  of 
their  slabs  and  monuments  bearing  inscriptions.  Laodi- 
cia  was  also  a  stronghold  of  both  the  unions  and  the 
early  Christians.  This  place,  together  with  Ephesus  and 
Hieropolis,  is  where  were  founded  the  seven  Apocalyptic 
churches.44  The  early  church  found  mellow  soil  among 
the  brotherhoods  of  the  eranoi  and  thiasoi. 

Apamea  near  Antioch,  the  birthplace  of  Eunus,  insti- 
gator of  the  greatest  of  all  the  slave  uprisings,  was  also 
the  cradle  of  one  of  the  early  churches.48  We  have,  in 
our  account  of  this  great  strike  shown  that  Eunus  and 
his  men  seemed  both  to  be  deeply  imbued  with  the  every- 
where present  idea  of  the  Messiah,  who  was  to  redeem  the 
world,  and  also  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  methods 
of  secret  organization.  His  knowledge  of  the  auspices, 
and  plan  of  organization  were  really  at  the  base  of  his  suc- 
cess. These  things,  added  to  inscriptions  found  in  the 
vicinity  of  labor  unions  of  an  antiquity  coeval  with  this 
great  servile  war,  show  very  plainly  why  Christianity  took 
root  so  readily  in  those  regions  of  Asia. 

«  See  chap.  x.  p.  242.    Aristrmicus,  giving  a  full  sketch  of  the  event. 

«  St.  Paul,  Collossianf,  IV.  15,  alludes  to  it  where  he  asks  that  his  letter  be 
fihown  to  the  brethren  in  the  church  of  Laodicia. 

«  Revelations,  i.  11.  John  here  also  epeaks  of  the  church  of  Pergamus  ae 
one  of  the  seven. 


NAZARETH.  513 

Rhodes  was  also  one  of  the  places  where  Christianity 
established  itself,  although  its  successes  there  have  been 
sad.  But  of  all  spots  in  the  world  Rhodes  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  the  most  prolific  in  those  queer  inscriptions 
indicating  a  great  labor  organization  in  ancient  times. 
They  existed  in  great  numbers  on  this  island.4'  The 
abundance  of  these  inscriptions  found  in  Rhodes  and  at 
Piraeus,  have  attracted  much  attention  from  the  archaeolo- 
gists of  late.  The  fact  is,  the  societies  being  mostly  era- 
noi  or  labor  unions  and  enjoying  in  common  brotherhood, 
the  scanty  proceeds  of  their  toil,  had  for  many  ages,  pre- 
pared the  ground  for  the  new  plant ;  consequently  it  was 
found  mellow  and  in  readiness  for  the  greater  Messiah 
when  at  last  he  really  arrived. 

But  one  of  the  most  interesting  centers  of  the  early 
church  was  Apamea,  the  birthplace  of  Eunus,  the  great 
slave-king  of  Sicily,  Athenion,  hero  of  the  second  Sicilian 
strike-war,  and  Saint  Paul  the  most  famous  of  the  apostles 
of  Jesus.  This  city,  not  far  from  Nazareth,  was  a  hive  of 
free  labor  organizations  until  stricken  by  the  Roman  con- 
quest. It  gave  birth  to  three  of  the  most  wonderful  char- 
acters of  the  history  of  the  lowly  and  being  warmed  up 
in  the  old  cult  of  the  communes,  easily  became  the  seat 
of  an  early  Christian  church. 

Another  significant  fact  may  here  by  mentioned  that 
Plato  takes  Socrates  down  to  the  Piraeus  among  the  com- 
munal fraternities  of  the  working  people  where  he  and 
his  friends  remained  for  days,  as  it  were,  in  this  socialis- 
tic atmosphere.  They  there  discussed  and  drew  up  the 
whole  of  Plato's  most  celebrated  work — the  Republic. 
Socrates  was  himself  a  member  and  this  may  account  for 
Plato's  notion.*7 

Summing  up  the  mass,  we  find  five  great  revolutionary 

4*  See  I.liders,  Die  Diony»ischtu  Ktinitler,  8.  37*42  and  elsewhere.  Foncart, 
LfM  Associations  Religievsea  chez  IKS  Grecs.  chap.  xii.  "  Les  associations  religieuses 
n'  etaient  pas  moins  nombreuses  qu'  an  Piree."  They  were  worshipers  of  num- 
erous deities.  M.  \Vescher  in  the  Revut.  Archfologtqne,  1864,  tome  II.  p.  473,  says 
lie  collected  a  list  of  19  inscriptions  representing  as  many  organizations  in  the 
inland  of  Rhodes. 

•i"  Plato.  Republic,  I.  1,  Socrates  says:  "  Yesterday  I  went  down  to  the  Pirzus 
along  witli  Glaukon,  Ariston's  son,  to  worship  the  divinity  and  attend  the  festi- 
val." This  tutelary  patroness  was  Artemis,  sister  to  Apollo,  central  figure  ol  the 
sun-worship  (see  chapter  on  Red  Banner).  She  ranked  with  the  group  of  labor 
protectresses,  Cybele.  Ceres,  Minerva,  under  whom  so  many  organizations  were 
ronui'e'1. 


514  PALESTINE. 

characters,  aside  from  kings  and  men  in  absolute  power, 
like  Lycurgus,  Numa  and  Solon.  These  five  men  repre- 
sent the  labor  of  five  active  lives  devoted  to  the  improve- 
ment of  human  conditions  on  a  large  scale.  They  are 
Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  Spartacus  and  Jesus. 

Socrates  and  Jesus,  the  first  and  the  last,  seem  like  an 
incarnation  of  two  great  goodnesses  in  one.  The  analogy 
from  beginning  to  end  is  wonderful.  Both  were  sons  of 
humble  mechanics — one  a  marble-cutter,  the  other  a  car- 
penter. Both  were  surrounded  by  communes  of  the  se- 
cret eranoi,  and  probably  both  were  members.  Both 
preached  quietly  to  their  deciples,  occasionally  addressing 
open-air  mass  meetings.  Both  were  betrayed  by  the  per- 
fidy of  their  own  pretended  converts  and  suffered  death 
on  the  plea  of  corrupting  the  morals  which  the  ethics  of 
the  same  Pagan  faith  had  fostered  and  grown,  out  of  the 
hideous  philosophy  of  human  slavery.  The  result  to  the 
human  race,  of  these  parallel  lives  and  martyrdoms  has 
been  altogether  incalculable. 

Plato,  the  admirer  of  Socrates,  dared  not  follow  his 
master. 

Aristotle,  borrowing  from  Anaxagoras  and  Kapila,  laid 
the  foundation  of  human  improvement,  with  great  pre- 
cision, upon  the  scientific  ground-work  of  mechanics.  His 
ideas,  restored  by  Bacon,  are  those  which  the  world  is 
now  following. 

Spartacus,  the  greatest  representative  of  the  purely  iras- 
cible, the  most  sublime  character  and  type  of  the  lower 
philosophy  of  resistance,  who  careered  on  the  ground  of 
"  an  eye'  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,"  last,  and  just 
anterior  to  the  great  carpenter,  was  a  shepherd,  humble 
and  without  ambitions,  but  because  implicated  with  an 
age  of  injustice  wherein  "  opportunity  makes  the  man," 
magnetized,  split  asunder,  almost  conquered  the  world, 
which  in  his  day  was  Rome. 

Jesus,  who  before  coming  to  proper  age,  is  said  to  have 
studied  diligently,  seems  to  have  shaped  his  life-course 
from  the  results  of  lessons  gained  by  these  predecessors. 
He  accepted  the  acceptable  and  sternly  refused  that  which 
bore  no  promise  of  contributing  to  the  establishment  of 
a  heaven  on  earth.  He  gained  his  great  triumph  over 
slavery  by  adjusting  the  three  moral  impulses  of  Plato 


COMPARATIVE   WORK  OF  GREAT  MASTERS,     515 

and  the  dialecticians — irascibility,  concupiscence,  sympa- 
thy. He  soothed  the  jarring  bitterness  of  the  first  by 
coaxing  concupiscence  from  its  ancient  realm  and  bring- 
ing it  down  to  "want;"  and  married  them  together  by 
the  tie  of  sympathy,  the  impulse  most  matured  by  the  so- 
cial unions ;  and  there  formed  the  stronghold  of  his  doc- 
trine from  beginning  to  end. 

Plato,  the  ancient  mouth-piece  of  them  all,  as  he  is 
resurrected  in  Neo-Platonism,  after  a  test  of  7,000  gener- 
ations, must  be  placed,  by  those  engaged  in  the  labor 
problem  of  to-day,  as  an  extraordinary  tissue  of  harmony 
and  absurdity.  He  wanted  the  better  (or  individual),  to 
overcome  the  multitude  (or  worse).** 

The  experience  of  these  7,000  generations  since  Plato, 
forces  the  now  living  family  of  mankind  to  pronounce  an 
opposite  opinion.  It  is  the  masses  who  are  "  beautiful," 
(as  Plato  used  that  word);  while  the  individual  proves 
himself  constantly  to  be  the  lying,  bribe-taking,  merchant- 
able tt  sell-out"  and  under-dealer;  ready  as  a  rule,  under  the 
competitive  sy&tem,  for  any  trade,  seditiously  corrupt, 
planning  schemes  of  jobbery;  and  he  has  actually  to  be 
watched  by  the  honest  masses. 

Plato  wanted  slaves.  His  slave  system,  large  already, 
during  his  life-time  was  small  compared  with  its  huge- 
ness after  his  philosophy  was  promulgated  and  its  influ- 
ence extended  to  the  Roman  conquests.  Before  his  time, 
slaves  were  the  children  of  the  citizens.  Soon  after  him, 
Rome  in  her  enormous  conquests,  turned  the  vast  popu- 
lations of  that  age  into  rebellious  slaves,  and  the  world 
became  almost  depopulated.  This  master  not  only  wanted 
degraded  slaves,  but  he  laid  down  laws  for  them,  consign- 
ing them  to  death  by  torture  for  unpremeditated  homicide 
while  the  mastt-r  was  allowed,  if  he  murdered  a  slave,  to 
be  tried  by  his  friends,  acquitted  and  no  stigma  inflicted 
upon  his  name ;  and  Plato  lays  down  a  law  to  that  effect.4* 

The  entire  enlightenment  of  our  modern  age  repudiates 

48  Laws,  I.  3,  4,  Bekker,  Lond.  ed. 

«  Laws,  IX.  9,  More  on  Plato's  views  of  Slavery  will  be  found  as  follows : 
Breeding  mean  with  mean  and  best  with  best.  Republic ,  V.  8,  Great  fear  of  slave 
uprising  in  consequence  of  the  system,  acknowledged,  IX.  5,  Id.  \  "Abject 
race;'  Slatetmen,  49:  Necessary  to  possess  slaves  Laws,  VI.  19;  Agricultural 
slaves,  Laii-a,  \  JI.  13:  For  homicide  the  slave  must  invariably  die:  preferably  by 
torture,  Lava,  IX.  9;  ^uch  punishment  must  be  "clean,"  it.  vengeance,  Law*, 
XI.  a,  10,  fm. 


516  PALESTINE. 

this  as  unfairness,  relegating  the  slave  system  to  a  realm 
of  low  barbarity.  On  human  slavery,  the  subsequent  world 
has  emphatically  pronounced  against  Plato's  views  ;  and 
the  little  investigating  mites  of  Aristotle,  and  the  work- 
ing elements  of  Jesus,  are  banishing  it  from  the  earth. 

Plato  wanted  war.50  He  laid  many  plans  and  laws  upon 
his  theory  of  external  strife,  wishing  only  education  and 
mutuality  within.  Neo-Platonism  took  it  up,  and  in  blas- 
phemous contradiction  to  the  teacher,  endorsed  it,  and 
actually  engrafted  this  Pagan  precept  into  the  mild  and 
peaceful  system  of  Jesus. 

Things  have  not  turned  out  to  substantiate  these  coun- 
sels of  the  great  philosopher.  Wars  the  people  had;  and 
the  wars  made  a  million  slaves.  Eunus,  Athenion  and 
Spartacus  resented  by  warring  back;  and  when  the  world, 
devastated  by  combined  horrors  of  war  and  slavery,  got 
time  to  breathe  and  recruit,  another  slave-war  struck  man- 
kind even  in  our  civil  rebellion,  with  the  final  result  to  fix 
the  conviction  that  the  peace  plan  of  Jesus  was  correct. 

Plato  wanted  it  understood  and  implicitly  believed  that 
all  things  spring  from  the  most  high,  the  mythical  and 
invisible  inhabitants  of  Ouranos;  and  that  men  derived 
existence,  and  were  watched  over  from  those  heights 
in  the  vaulted  dome  of  heaven,  the  Olympian  abodes — 
whence  an  endless  chain  of  priestcraft. 

Neo-Platonism  engrafted  these  absurdities  into  a  Chris- 
tian dogma. 

Modern  common  sense,  backed  by  science,  with  its  in- 
numerable tools  proving  the  true  laws  of  nature,  finds 
the  facts  to  be  the  exact  reverse  of  the  Platonic  dogma, 
and  is  wheeling  us  back  to  the  physicism  of  Aristotle,  that 
it  is  the  little  things  and  the  little  men  and  women  who 
perform  all  works,  who  produce  all  that  is  produced ; 
that  it  is  not  the  great,  conjured  to  be  so  in  the  elastic 
imagination,  who  accomplish  anything,  but  the  infinites- 
simals  that  do  it  all. 

50  Republic,  vii.  viii.  Polemarch  is  .made  to  eay  that  justice  consists  in  do- 
ing good  to  friends  and  evil  to  enemies.  Socrates  however,  in  an  ironical  t^ally 
of  moral  reasoning  demolishes  Poleinarch's  logic  wheeling  him  unto  the  great 
thesis  of  Jesus  which  now  proves  to  be  the  idea  that  alone  can  prevail:  See 
Matthew,  v.  43,  44,  24;  John,  xv.  17.  First  Epistle  of  John,  ii.  10,  11  The 
anti-war  teachings  of  Jesus  are  actively  forcing  these  horrors  from  the  earth 
jnst  a»  chattel  slavery  has  been  forced  out  of  existence  and  wages  slavery  is  fast 
following. 


SYMPATHY,   IRASCIBILITY,   CONCUPISENCE.     517 

Jesus,  if  we  read  him  rightly,  appears  to  have  been  less 
a  Platonist  than  an  Aristotelian  and  when  he  comes  to  be 
preached  in  our  pulpits  from  labor  points  of  view,  there 
will  be  found  hundreds  of  texts  whose  meanings,  long 
smothered,  will  furnish  substance  enough  to  solve  the 
problem.51 

Emancipation  came  from  Christianity.52  The  great 
principle  of  mutual  love  among  all  men  was  the  really 
original  idea  and  practical  work  of  Jesus.  He  taught  a 
new  doctrine — a  peaceful  plan  of  salvation. 

Spartacus,  who  represented  tbe  old  method  of  allevia- 
tion from  suffering,  based  upon  the  irascible  principle 
with  its  wars  and  bloodshed,  was,  beyond  all  cavil,  the 
highest  type  of  that. culture.  He  was  evidently  informed 
on  the  great  wars  of  Viriathus,  Eunus,  Athenion  and  per- 
haps Drimakos.  But  in  both  opportunity  and  military 
aptitude  Spartacus  surpassed  them  alL  He  lost.  But 
after  the  million  crucifixions  of  his  own  and  a  few  gener- 
ations preceding  him,  and  the  enormous  lessons  which  his 
own  and  his  predecessors'  blows  had  administered  to 
cruel,  concupiscent  Rome,  who  shall  have  the  temerity  to 
say  that  these  blows,  crucifixions,  bloody  scenes  and  awful 
lessons  did  not  go  far,  very  far,  toward  shaping  the  convic- 
tions of  Jesus,  who  but  continued  the  great  conflict  with 
his  milder  leadership  ? 

Modern  progress,  which  has  almost  outgrown  chattel 
slavery,  still  seems  quite  undecided  in  regard  to  the  plan 
of  Spartacus ;  and  might  even  yet  swing  back  upon  it,  were 
it  not  for  the  stern,  inexorable  hold  which  Jesus  main- 
tains in  the  wreck  of  his  tortured,  priest-ridden  temples 
— and  this  hold  is  the  hope  of  the  future ;  for  his  plan  ap- 
plies with  wonderful  harmony  to  the  investigations  and 
experiments  of  Aristotle. 

Plato  wanted  the  unequivocal  mingling  of  religion  and 
politics." 

51  There  are  many  expressions  recorded  in  the  Ne\o  Testament  which  are  vague 
in  meaning  and  mast  remain  BO  until  better  understood.  After  this  they  may 
be  used  by  ministers  of  the  gospel,  in  the  labor  movement. 

i»  Compare  Canon  Lightfoot,  OntheCollosstans.p.  321 ;  Bockh,  ZH«  Lauriscken 
Silberberywerke.  Hundreds  of  the  most  candid  authors  acknowledge  that  it  was 
the  Christian  cult  which  finally  fought  down  this  terrible  institution.  In  going, 
paganism  had  also  to  go.  But  as  we  study  the  origin  and  course  of  evcnts'we 
must  acknowledge  ttiat  the  blow  against  slavery  had  been  struck  before  the  ad- 
Tent  of  Christ.  He  it  was,  who  killed  slavery  by  tempering  the  spirit  of  human 
kindness. 


618  PALESTINE. 

Modern  statesmen,  notwithstanding  the  almost  desper- 
ate struggles  of  priest-power  to  hold  firm  this  Pagan  gripr 
are  now  steadily  disestablishing  state  and  church:  and 
the  verdict  of  enlightenment  both  in  the  realm  of  science 
and  sociology,  is  to  cast  overboard,  as  worthless  and  per- 
nicious, this  old  idea  of  Plato  and  let  religion  and  politics 
each  take  their  course  alone.  Jesus  not  only  separated 
church  from  state  by  admonishing  the  typical  money- 
changers, but  he  said:  "Render  unto  Caesar  "etc.  The 
Caesar  here  referred  to,  was  the  mild  Augustus,  whose 
reign  was,  in  political  respects,  a  model,  and  a  glory  to 
Rome. 

Plato  wanted  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.** 
He  encouraged  hatreds  even  in  his  "  city  of  the  Blessed," 
and  trained  an  army  of  both  women  and  men  to  the  science 
of  fierce  contention. 

"  Resist  not  evil,"  the  law  of  the  mechanic  of  Nazareth, 
has  so  far  supplanted  these  savage  doctrines,  that  already 
the  trade  unions  and  other  social  and  labor  organizations 
in  many  countries,  are  discussing  and  planning  to  resist 
against  men  of  Plato's  class,  on  grounds  that  they  them- 
selves are  forced  to  become  innocent  victims  of  a  hateful 
idea  which  pits  them,  like  Spartacue  and  the  gladiators* 
against  their  fellow  men,  who  have  given  them  no  caua* 
for  offense. 

Yet  all  things  considered,  the  world  cannot  afford  to 
belittle  Plato,  the  father  of  idealism ;  even  though  many 
of  his  time-serving  thoughts  are  passing  away.  His  mind 
was  too  great  for  his  age  and  his  weaknesses  were  but 
subterfuges  which  saved  him  to  a  good  old  age  while 
bolder  men  were  martyred  in  comparative  youth. 

But  Aristotle  who  began  with  microscopic  things,  whose 
mind,  a  consension  of  Kapila,  of  Anaxagoras,  of  Empedo- 
cles,  of  Parmenides,  of  Zeno,  of  Plato  himself,  is,  as  the 
world  grows  old  and  wise,  and  as  light  gleams  in  upon 
intelligence,  beaming  more  brilliantly  with  each  decade; 
and  this  great  man's  thoughts  are  laying  bare  the  in- 
crusted  truth  and  leading  to  the  final,  perfected  philoso- 
phy. Aristotle's  is  the  mind  which  draws  ever  nearer  as 

•»  Lawt,  book  VI.  cap.  7,  Bekk.  It  was  always  so  in  the  ancient  code.  Neo- 
Platoniflm  and  the  Nicine  Decrees  afterward  succeeded  in  getting  thin  old  Paean 
thing  back  into  the  Christian  church  where  it  g'ill  remains,  in  aome  countries. 

*«  Plato,  Juttice,  5 ;  JRepublic,  pastim ;  Lau-f,  in  man?  plate*- 


THE   GREAT  ARISTOTLE.  519 

the  ages  waft  him  farther  away  among  the  satellites  of  an 
.awful  forever. 

Jesus,  who  planted  among  the  communes  and  laborers 
all  that  was  good  and  pure,  but  whose  beautiful  works 
have  been  almost  banished  by  the  proud  old  paganism 
still  adhering  in  his  temples,  departed  only  to  return  ;  for 
these  growing  squadrons  of  the  modern  mites  foretell  that 
he  is  deeting  back  to  assume  command  of  a  great  army 
of  unreconciled  but  longing  intelligences,  which  the  an- 
cient working  people  quickened,  and  which  tlie  suns  of  two 
thousand  years  have  mellowed  for  the  harvest. 


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